Temporary Insanity
by TimeLordParadox
Summary: Rookie police officer James Denning attempts to escape the monster infested nightmare of Raccoon city. However, in his struggle for survival he is given a helping hand when he discovers an old Mask, which gives its wearer more then they bargain for.
1. Prologue

**Plot**: Rookie police officer James Denning attempts to escape the monster infested nightmare of Raccoon city. However, in his struggle for survival he is given a helping hand when he discovers an old Mask, which gives its wearer more then they bargain for.

**Authors notes: **I've written it in a form so you don't really need to know anything about the Mask to start with because I'll be explaining it. Also though this is technically a crossover the only thing that makes it so is the Mask itself, there aren't any characters from the Mask movies in this story.

This is also an experiment to see how well I can switch from the dark horror situation of Resident Evil to a dark type of comedy. So I'd really like to know how it turns out.

For those who have read the original Mask comics, I will be incorporating elements from the original more violent version of the Mask.

I recently changed the name from 'Nemesis vs the Mask' to the more suitable 'Temporary Insanity'

Just recently updated the prologue because reading the original back to myself I realised it wasn't very good. Hopefully this one is better.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own either Resident Evil or the Mask

However, James Denning and David Brown are characters I have created.

Enjoy

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Resident Evil/the Mask

**Temporary Insanity**

By TimeLordParadox

(Aka Ross Pickering)

**Prologue**

People assume that when the world ends it'll be quick, in a matter of minutes or even seconds, a meteor impact, the eruption of a super volcano, solar flares. But that is not how this world ended, it started subtly and slowly, it started to grow and spread like an infection, because the end of this world, this city was an infection.

Insanity was that infection. At first it began with rumours of drunken people wandering the streets, attacking people and apparently… trying to eat them. Then came massive riots in the streets, riots containing dozens of people who all suffered from the same infection, and began attacking and biting everyone they could see.

Those who survived the riots often weren't in the clear, one bite, one scratch from the infected passed it on. Soon their injured victims joined their ranks and their mission to spread the infection. An infection which hijacked the body of the infected and gave it an uncontrollable desire, an uncontrollable urge to feed.

The city, Raccoon City was slowly starting to die from this infection. A city which was run by the mega corporation and who was also the source of this disease, Umbrella Inc.

The local police force tried to control the situation, but the infected weren't the only threat out there. Raccoon City, here there be monsters. Freakish mutations with a blood lust had started crawling from the most infected parts of the city. Creatures that almost unstoppable and ten times worse than the infected. In the end every barricade, every safe house would fall to the flood of infected who started collecting to wander the streets in hordes like a river. Flowing from one street to another, looking for food and as their ranks swelled, anyone foolish enough to be caught in this river was carried away with the flood.

Places which were considered safe havens quickly soon turned into death traps. Hospitals, were people injured by the infected were rushed to became the worst places to go. The infected bodies, no matter how they became infected, either by bite or scratch died from the infection. But this was not the end of them by a long shot, because it didn't matter what state the infected was in, if it had its lungs ripped out or its heart removed it didn't matter. No one in the hospitals were prepared when the dead started to get up and walk and spread the infection to anyone who was foolish enough to come into biting distance.

Police stations weren't secure either. The infected were brought in and treated as simple criminals. But soon even they learned the terrible truth of what was going on when their comrades, work colleagues and friends died from superficial flesh wounds only to have their corpses rise up and attack them.

The authorities tried to control the situation, to keep it under wraps but soon the need for secrecy was outweighed by the need for survival as those who were safely locked away in their private offices and panic rooms soon found the river of undead lapping at their shores, eroding away at the walls until their sanctuary fell.

To stay in the city meant certain death, the only way to avoid the fate of those aimlessly wandering the streets outside was to escape from the city.

When the last defense of the Raccoon Police Department had been eroded away the infected undead at last entered. Those who were foolish to stay at their posts, not out of a sense of duty however but out of fear from what was outside were soon recruited to join the undead army whether they wanted to or not. The smart ones escaped long before this happened, but the foolish of these people traded the hell that was inside for the hell outside by venturing outside the police department. But there were two who had a better idea, they attempted to escape the hell outside that was slowly seeping in by retreating underground, into the sewers.

This is where my story begins.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**From the Diary of James Denning**

**September 28****th**** 1998**

Zombies over ran the police department, we just couldn't stop them, hours spent hammering away at our defences and they finally broke through. Some of the police have evacuated the building in an armoured SWAT truck but I missed it, how could I have missed it? Why did I have to run that errand for Marvin I could've let someone else do it, stupid! Its suicide to travel the streets even in a vehicle, but the moans and groans are driving me insane, I have to escape!

Chief Irons has disappeared, no one saw him leave the RPD in the SWAT truck so he must be here still, probably wandering around mindless waiting for us to walk into him. Stop thinking like that!

I found a manhole in the basement a few days pervious and we were working on a plan to use it to escape to the sewage plant. A plan which looks like it was abandoned in favour of the SWAT truck but maybe I can still use the plan, maybe I can make it to the subway system and maybe I can find a way out of the city but its suicide to travel even the underbelly of this hellish city on my own.

I tried to persuade David Brown, another officer and survivor who just arrived as the SWAT truck left so he didn't get his chance to leave with them and seems pretty pissed at it, he agreed to come with me to follow this plan.

I asked Marvin another fellow police officer to come with us but he conceded that he was too injured to travel and insisted he stayed here to help anyone who arrives at the RPD expecting to find sanctuary. He's a brave man I wish I had his courage.

(Additional)

Someone locked the door to the underground! Is someone trying to prevent our escape? It took a little while but I managed to pick the lock, one of the few things I picked up from my brother. Zombies began sneaking up from behind us but I managed to unlock the door and we were on our way. I re-locked it afterward so if they did manage to work out how to open doors they'd never open it.

We passed through the sewers and processing plant and back into the sewers again without incident, luckily we haven't come across any zombies or monsters in our travels but how long will our luck hold out?

**-James Denning.**

"Do you see anything?" asked James as David popped a man hole and lifted it from the floor, his head pocked out of the small hole as he lifted it slowly trying not to make a noise. He slowed his breathing as he looked around from his vantage point on the floor. The corridor he could see was still lit and there was no one around.

David held his breath, and listened, listened for the sound of scraping feet, for the sound of a low moan, anything that might give away the presence of the living dead. Thankfully the only sound he could hear was the drip, drip, drip of a water pipe and the echoes caused by that water pipe. This wasn't a good thing because the drips and echoes could be masking the noises made by something else further away. They couldn't go back though, they had spent too much energy coming this way and there was no point going back.

"I can't see anything" David whispered to his friend below further down on the ladder, "But I can't hear much" he lifted the man hole higher and gently pushed it aside and climbed out from the hole. He reached down and helped his James up from the hole.

James was holding the trigger and grip of his shotgun tight in case for the need to shoot and reload rapidly. He was a thin man of no older then 22, in experienced with a mop of blond hair which was parted in the middle. David began replacing the manhole cover, it made a slight scraping noise as he did which he tried his best to mask.

"Why are you doing that?" James whispered looking down at David before snapping his head back to look down the corridor for any moving shadows.

"We don't want any of the other creatures to follow our scent through this do we?" he said as the manhole slipped back into place with a slight clunk.

David drew his nine mil from its holster and approached the next bend, he peered over the edge, nothing, no sign of the living dead or the monsters. He made a hand gesture to James who nodded understanding this meant 'all clear'. They both continued down the small corridor, letting their feet fall gently so not to attract so much attention and so they can clearly hear if something was coming up.

They found a set of steps which were at least 8 meters wide and went down, the stairs had four hand rails running down it towards the platform at the bottom which had a sheer drop at the other side, they were finally in the subway station. It was eerie to see a place normally bustling with people to be so empty and lifeless. They approached the edge of the platform and saw the rails the subway would normally run along.

"Think the power's been cut?" James said as David simply jumped down onto the track.

"I can't tell" he said "So don't touch the rails"

James joined him on the tracks, being careful to avoid the rails. They had both agreed that no matter what the must stay clear of the streets above at all costs because the streets were swarming with the living dead and they didn't have enough ammo to shoot them all in the head. So their only safe bet was to make it through the subway system and go from there. It wasn't a solid plan but right now part of a plan was better then no plan at all.

David pulled a small torch from his jacket pocket and held it at arms length with his pistol as he flipped it on to help illuminate the tunnel beyond. It was still silent as they approached the mouth of the tunnel. James was still holding his shot gun securely but it wasn't the best weapon for the job at the minute especially since he wouldn't even know where he's shooting because he couldn't hold a shot gun and a torch at the same time.

"I'm not going to give those dead heads a chance" he said when David mentioned this to him.

"What's the point of fire power if you don't know where to aim it?" he said turning to face his college, he grabbed the barrel and made him point it upwards at an angle as he spoke calmly, clearly and sternly. "Listen, James we've made it this far, if you want to hunk that great thing in the dark then go on, but I don't want to be on the receiving end of it when it goes off."

At these words James hesitated before he opened his mouth intending to speak but looked like he thought better of it as he holstered his shot gun in a sling around his torso and pulled out a flash light and pistol.

"Now…" David said slowly as he turned to face the tunnel again "…let's move quickly and quietl…" cold hands grabbed his arms and he fired a shot into the chest of the walking cadaver that now forced him to the ground and started to crawl all over him. He landed on the solid rails as the zombie followed him, it landed directly on him and he lay face to face with the decaying face of what once was a thin man with a mop of brown hair, its clothes were soggy, dirty and torn. Dropping his gun and torch David grabbed the things arms and tried to push it away as its mouth opened revealing a set of rotting teeth which reeked of decaying flesh. It moaned and groaned loudly as its pale white eyes looked down on him with only one thought on it's mind, lunch.

A gun shot rang out and the thing stopped its struggles and rolled off David and fell limp to the ground as a bullet wound in the back of its head, a bullet which had come from James pistol the barrel of which was smoking.

"You took you're sweet time" David said retrieving his gun and torch as he got back to his feet.

"It took me by surprise!" he said clearly scared.

"It took you by surprise?" David said nearly shouting. He pointed his gun back at the tunnel entrance when he heard it. Soft moans of something only half alive and the scrap noise as feet shuffled on legs that didn't quite know how to work properly. But worse then that they heard a low growl, the growl of a dog as it's about to attack and if there were dogs in the darkness with the living dead then the chances are it or they were infected as well, and dogs who were infected could still run like they did when they were alive.

They heard a noise which sounded like padded animal feet running towards them out of the darkness. David and James took a few steps back so when they finally saw it coming they could fire.

David shone his light on the dark ground and saw it coming, he pulled the trigger and fired a couple of shots right at the dog, he got it in the torso and the leg but that was no good, only a swift shot through the head would be enough. With a mighty bang the thing dropped down dead. James hand re-equipped his shot gun and used it to kill the thing.

"Don't worry it wasn't pointed at you" James tried to say coolly but the fear in his voice was evident. The sound of multiple feet running now, more of those dogs were coming at them. Several bangs rang out from James' shot gun as he fired blindly into the darkness at his unseen targets.

"Wait for a target!" David shouted over the bangs, it was no good firing into the blackness if he wasn't hitting anything. Here they came, several dogs were illuminated by David's flash light and they both fired at the approaching dogs. David got his first one in the head which came frighteningly close to biting his arm, his second shot missed but that one was taken down by another blast from the shot gun. Shots fired as they both tried to kill the dogs before they bit and infected them. Bang, bang, bang, click! James had used up his shot gun cartages.

Two of the dogs remained now and one leapt at James while his gun was empty and pushed him to the floor. The dog tried in vain to bite at his neck it was only in vain because the dog's jaws were stuck around the barrel of the shot gun which it couldn't bite through. James was helpless he used all his strength to keep this infected dog with missing bits of flesh all over it from biting him which meant he couldn't reach for his own pistol.

The other dog came at David, bang went his gun and the bullet went through the torso, bang again and he missed. Bang came another shot and the beast fell down dead at his feet.

He quickly turned to his comrade who was on his back fighting off the infected dog. David raised his gun to its temple and prepared to fire, 'click' his gun was empty as well. Thinking quickly he swung it around on his index finger so he was holding the barrel and using the butt of it like a club. He brought it down on the zombie dogs head and he heard its skull break with a blood chilling crack. It fell down dead and James quickly pushed it off himself.

David didn't help his friend up, James was fast turning into a liability it was probably better if he didn't bring him with him, the only reason he actually considered bringing him was. 1) There was safety in numbers and 2) It was his plan to start with. He was about to replace the bullets in his pistol when James tapped him on the shoulder and motioned to the dark tunnel they were going to enter.

Zombies started creeping from the darkness, not one or two a whole bunch of them and they needed to reload now. They took a few steps back as the fiddled with their weapons to remove the spent bullets and replace them. But as they turned to put some distance between them and the zombies so they could reload they saw to their horror coming from the opposite tunnel was a larger horde of zombies. There was no way they could shoot them all now. David thought of returning the way they had come up the stairs and into the sewer, but even from up there zombies were coming alerted to prey by loud sound of their battle with the dogs. Several stumbled and fell down the stairs something which would've looked pretty comical had their situation not been so dire.

They retreated to the opposite platform where apparently no zombies could be seen. James replaced his shot gun in his sling and drew his pistol, it still had bullets in it but he was now wasting them all trying to kill and hold off a few zombies.

"Save them in case something nasty turns up a head of us!" he shouted over the moans of the dead. James stopped firing as they climbed up from the rails onto the high platform.

They ran up the stairs as the zombies fumbled to climb the platform, they were unused to climbing and their arms reached out as if they could stretch their arms out and grab them to bring them back.

James and David only got so far until they came across a set of steps which lead up to the street above, but it was suicide to go up top but it was also too dangerous to stay down here. David thought they could move around the station, sneak up to the zombies from the other side and disappear down the manhole again. But their way was blocked by a boarded up wall behind which they could hear the scrapings of the dead as they tried to break through the barrier and by the look of it, it probably wouldn't hold for much longer.

They heard shuffling footsteps coming up the stairs behind them, James and David looked at each other and they both agreed. It was a suicide mission to go up top but down here they were simply dead.

They moved up the stairs as fast as they could and emerged onto the streets of Racoon City the crisp cold air met them as they surfaced and surprisingly there was no sign of zombies. Actually no he took that back there were minor signs of zombies, one or two roaming the streets but there was far fewer then they were expecting.

Staying still would mean death so they quickly ran as fast as they could down the street. The entire city was in ruin, cars had crashed into lamp posts and buildings, buses were mangled wrecks some of which were upturned on the street with dead bodies hanging out of it, dead bodies which for one reason or another could not return to life. Some dead bodies even littered the floor, most had head injuries some from blunt force trauma others from gun shots, one or two looked like they were self inflicted. These were people who did not desire to join the ranks of the dead.

As they ran David reloaded his pistol but they soon came to a stop when they found their path blocked by another bus, this one looked like it had been custom made and reinforced so they could break through barriers but what they had not counted on was the dangerous driving conditions of these streets. The bus was on its side and blocked the entire street off it had also burst into flames so climbing it was no option.

James risked a glance behind him then tapped David on the shoulder again, _god that was getting annoying!_ He turned and saw the zombies were filing out of the subway in mass hordes looking for their escaped meals.

David spotted a long alley and motioned James towards it quickly. They disappeared into the darkness the only light coming from the fire behind them and the light of their own two torches. They started moving slowly again, they didn't want to run head long into the jaws of a waiting infected or one of the other monsters lurking this city.

They needed shelter fast, out here they won't last long. Gently they stepped along the alleyway, the sound of the crackling fire was behind them now and was almost nonexistent and the silence which replaced it was almost deafening. The only sound was the ruffling of old newspapers which now littered the floor, the ghostly howl of the wind and the loud, distant moans of zombies who had found food.

Their lights fell on a door, a big red metal door which hung ajar on its hinges. They both approached it cautiously, a big metal door meant they could stop those creatures back there from pursing them further however it would do no good to rush in and be caught by something else. David positioned himself close to the door as James went up waited for David's signal. Then he quickly pulled it open so David's torch shone into the darkness. Through the door was a shop of some sort, he couldn't tell what sort, a gun shop hopefully but beggars can't be choosers.

David stepped inside the room and checked around the door and further into the shop before James joined him and shut the heavy red door with a loud clunk. James pulled at the locking mechanism until he was satisfied it was secure from any determined infected.

David breathed a sign of relief they were safe in here he decided as the shutters on the windows were wound down covering what was outside and added extra security to the building. But it also meant they couldn't see what it was like outside. Either way it was too dangerous to leave this building by the doors.

David shone his torch onto the display cases, some were smashed and some of the stock littered the floor but it looked like this shop sold literally anything. On one wall were the words 'we buy, we trade, we sell' in big red letters on a white wall. This must be Derek's Pawn shop he guessed. He remembered a previous case when they found the murder weapon from a homicide investigation in this very pawn shop. This individual had been a very sick man, he murdered several people who he felt had cheated him in the past and he had shown no remorse for his actions and maintained his innocence even as they shot him down when he tried to escape. With his death the case was closed and was almost air tight apart from one missing piece of evidence. When the man killed someone he always disguised his appearance with a big green mask but unfortunately that was the one thing they never recovered either from the suspects home or the pawn shop.

David's light fell across a door which lead upstairs somewhere, this was the perfect place to hide because as far as he could tell those things couldn't climb stairs so well so if they cleared the upstairs and blocked the stairway they would be safe for the night and they could move out in the morning.

He moved towards the door and opened it wider and peered around it then up the stairs, there was nothing there. He gently placed one foot on the first step then the next step, each one creaked under his weight. He heard the ghostly moan of a zombie echoing from somewhere outside as he came to a door and gently opened it. He stayed undercover and waited, his breathing slowed as he waited for any sign of an infected in the room. There was nothing but silence, just nothing, but there was the unmistakable sent of death and decay.

He gently stepped out pointing his gun in the room. Unlike downstairs it was obvious no zombie had managed to get up here because it was much too tidy. Zombies usually stumbled into things causing them to fall over but everything here was too cleanly placed in position. Slumped in a chair was a dead man, a man of elderly completion slightly overweight with whiting hair, Derek. A bullet hole was clear through the bottom of his jaw and out the top of his head. Blood splatter indicated he was sitting down when he pulled the trigger on himself and on the ground was a silver polished magnum revolver that he used to kill himself.

David snapped it up, any weapon he could use to his advantage he'd take. The sound of foot steps came up after him as James followed gently stepping on the stairs.

"What happened here?" James said in a silent whisper, David explained his theory that he shot himself.

"They should've made you a detective" James said as he began reloading his shot gun with extra cartages. "What do we do now?"

"I think we should hold up here for a while" David said "continue on our way in the morning"

"I thought it was exit or bust?" James said.

"It's dangerous enough out there in the dead of night when we can't see anything. It'll be safer in the morning when we can see much further"

James looked like he was about to argue but then decided he could see the logic in this decision. After all they couldn't disappear back down into sewers or the subway because there was no man hole in this building leading back to the sewers. They were both tired and David could tell, so it was best if they rested before moving out again.

He went to the window and looked out at the scene below, it was difficult to see but he could make out a couple of those things out there just wandering around, they walked with a stiff gate as if they still hadn't quite figured out how to operate the human body.

A couple of cars were outside one looked like it had crashed into the back of the other, inside the crashed car still strapped in its seat was one of those creatures, its arms flailing as it tried to get out. Bite marks showed she, because it was a she, must've crashed her car and the un-dead swarmed over her vehicle.

One of the un-dead creatures suddenly fell over as it caught its foot in something, there were vague gouges in the road where it had fallen, what could've caused them? He wondered, the burning fire close by illuminated these gouges and he could see they were made of metal, a metal track. Of course, Derek's Pawn shop was near the tram line that's what those things were. If there was a tram nearby then maybe, just maybe they could use it for transport and as a moving shield.

One of the creatures was shuffling towards the car but probably had little idea what it was for. The zombie's head turned stiffly to take in the space around it. It tilted its head upwards and its white blank eyes were looking directly into his. David held his breath, could it see him? If it started lumbering towards their hiding place more would start coming they always did. Thankfully the thing probably couldn't see him as it turned its head again and began lumbering away in a different direction. Before any more could turn to look up at their hiding place he shut the blinds so on one could see inside.

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**More to come soon**

Despite being a crossover I hope it still fits into the RE 2 and 3 timeline of events.


	3. Chapter 2

**Authors Notes: **Updated 02/12/2010, corrected spelling errors and added more detail in places.

Updated 04/12/2010, altered some small parts I've changed my mind about.

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**Chapter 2**

**From the Diary of James Denning**

**September 29th**

Early morning

It's still dark outside as we hide away in this pawn shop waiting for daylight. Our plan to quickly get out of the city went horribly wrong! Zombies infested the subway system I don't know where they came from, a crashed train? Or maybe they wandered into another station and wandered around the tunnels until we showed up. Either way we just managed to escape back to the surface and were lucky there weren't many of those things around to stop us.

We came across an abandoned pawn shop with a heavy steel door which we are now holding up in. Derek, the shops owner had apparently shot himself and I half feel like doing the same, I just know I'm not going to get out of this alive or at least as myself. The back door was ajar which is how we got in but I don't understand why the door was left like that? Had someone left after Derek shot himself? Maybe the survivors decided rescue wasn't going to come and decided to venture out into the city? I don't know all I know is this is the perfect shelter.

Though the place is now silent I can hear the howls of the zombies crawling around outside looking for their next meal. As long as we remain quiet they won't notice we are here.

There's a car outside which we could use to get further into the city the roads aren't blocked off as much by crashed vehicles in this street and I know how to hotwire a car, another trick my brother taught me. Mike why did you have to continue following that path? Why couldn't you just leave those skills and pranks behind with puberty?

I should get some sleep soon though, but I am interested in all the neat stuff Derek kept up here, I might rummage through a few boxes, take my mind of the nightmare outside before even attempting to sleep.

I have to say I am glad, because for now I'm still alive.

**-James Denning**

* * *

For the rest of the night James decided he wanted to see what good stuff had been brought in to exchange for money, he was currently shifting through a box of seemingly mixture of objects from old pictures and toys to antiques and ornaments.

They had secured their hiding place by sliding some planks of wood down the stairs which made the stairs harder to climb, and to further deter any prowling zombie they had put some heavy boxes at the top of the stairs, if they fell it would create a loud noise, a sign that they had been discovered. It had take them a few hours to erect this barrier, it wasn't perfect but it was the best they could manage, it had taken so long because they were trying to produce as little noise as possible because if any slight noise reached those things ears it will attract them like moths to a flame.

There was an extra room behind the main storage were there was a kitchen, apparently this Derek slept in the same place as his business. James was starving so he ransacked Derek's fridge of anything he felt like eating, they had to keep their strength up after all. He had disconnected the fridge so the light which came on inside when you open the door wouldn't come on and attract any wandering zombie who just might be outside the back. This also meant the cooling system wouldn't function but they wouldn't be staying longer then the night.

James was careful when opening the boxes to make as little noise as possible, he knew it wasn't the best thing to do but those occasional loud, distant moans were driving him insane he wouldn't be able to sleep. He was hoping to find a walkman or an mp3 player, ear plugs something he could use to keep that haunting moaning out of his head. He found something, it wasn't what he was looking for but it brought back memories.

"Hey David" James said as David ate a can of raw hotdogs "Look at this"

David swallowed one of the hotdogs before he answered "What is it?" he asked.

"Look at this" James was holding a saxophone in his hand "I haven't seen one of these since these I was a kid"

He could tell David wasn't really listening focusing again on his hotdogs as James put the Saxaphone down, he wanted to blow it but knew this would attract attention. James thought sorting through these things might also help to take his mind off the nightmare outside and it worked. He had once dated a girl in high school who played the saxophone but their relationship didn't last after they had left high school. These things brought back memories of when the world was less complicated. When the world was about more then just your own survival, parties, people, girls, drinking, dancing, he thought of himself as quite a good dancer, in his mind at least, but he could never bring himself to dance in front of people in case they judged him because of it. All of it, all these things were swept out of his life when this outbreak came crashing in.

He returned to the box of things where he pulled out a few old books, a money box empty of course, a play station, a cardboard box which contained a board game called 'connect four' and a load of other things, mostly useless stuff but it was the last thing which he brought out from the box he was most curious about, at first he thought it was the broken hull of a plastic toy boat that had been snapped in half, but when he picked it up he found it to be made of wood and had three holes in it, it was a mask. It was a dark shade of green and at first he thought this was that missing green mask from that murderer David told him about a few weeks back. David mentioned they ransacked this pawn shop looking for a green mask but couldn't find one. But when James looked closely at it in a different light he saw it was much too dark a shade of green and it was too solid, the mask David described was made of rubber not wood and was a light shade of green.

It had a metal bar which ran down its middle held on by rivets and looked really old like it should be in a museum. He wondered how much Derek had given the person who parted with that, not much probably knowing Derek, he tried to pawn his old TV set a few weeks back and the cheapskate would only give him $5 for it, the thing wasn't here anymore so he probably sold it on.

His attention turned back to the mask for some reason, the things eyes were wide and its mouth slightly upturned in a light smile. He didn't know why he was taking an interest in it he didn't recognise the design or anything. He turned it over so he looked directly into it. The inside of the mask suddenly started to glow dimly a shade of bright green.

James felt his eyes widen at such an unusual sight, he just held the mask in his hands unsure what to make of it, he felt a strange temptation to put it on, but why? His arms began moving the mask slowly closer to his face, it was about to make contact.

Crash!

James snapped out of it as the box of 'Connect Four' pieces scattered around the room from the board game box which he had left teetering on the edge of the table. David's eyes were wide away and were looking at him with content while his ears waiting for a sign the noise had attracted attention. They both waited listening in case they had attracted attention. It seemed like eternity as they listened to the silence.

David slowly scooped up the shot gun and slowly got to his feet. He gently moved towards the kitchen window and peered out. He couldn't see anything it was too dark. They heard a muffled 'thud' then a light 'tap' from downstairs. David gently moved over to the other window he had covered with the blind earlier and pushed it aside slightly so he could see out.

James was scared now and didn't really want to look outside but he un-holstered his gun and walked towards the window and peered out himself. There were now several of those things out there and they were all moving, towards their hiding place. A few of which were just limping around at the other end of the street caught sight of what the others were doing and decided to join them.

David's cold eyes were now on James, those eyes made him feel worse now. His murderous look made his message clear, 'stop looking through the boxes you dumb shit!' James just took the hint as David moved away from the window and cocked the weapon in case something broke through, he picked up his hotdogs and walked into the kitchen to finish eating them.

David and he had been through a lot together these last few hours, fighting zombies and helped each other when they were in trouble, he wouldn't just kill James for something small as that, after all there was safety in numbers. But James wouldn't be able to sleep easy tonight knowing those things were trying to get in.

Crash!

This was the sound of glass shattering but this wasn't from downstairs this was coming from the kitchen area. David fell backwards through the door as the window had blown outwards by something. James immaterially got to his feet and drew out his pistol as David rolled over and un-holstered his own weapon.

In the kitchen was a creature, a creature from hell itself, it was human shaped but it crawled on all fours, a set of long claws curled out where its fingers and toes should've been and it had loads of missing skin making it pink in colour, but the most noticeable thing about it was its head, it had no skull at all. Its brain was exposed to the open air, actually no he took that back it wasn't the most noticeable feature about it, out of its mouth came a long curling tongue that dripped with saliva. James had seen one of these before, it had broken into the RPD and killed several officers with that lance like tongue which could kill a man before he could scream. They had named this creature as a 'licker.'

The licker made a noise like a rasping breath as it yanked its head back before pushing it forward. This caused the tongue to whip towards them. It just missed them both by a few inches but its lethalness was proven as it effortlessly smashed the table to pieces.

David and James drew their pistols and began firing rounds into this monsters head, all of their shots found their mark yet the creature did not seem phased. James spotted his shot gun which David had dropped on the floor between them and the creature. David also noticed it and made a quick dive for it scooping it up as the creature leapt into the air ready to strike. David only just had enough time to point his shot gun in the air and pull the trigger. The blast forced the monster to fall down on its back.

David quickly got up and slammed the door behind him so if there were any others they had a barrier between them and 'them'

"What the hell was that thing?" David said to no one in particular.

"I don't know" James said panting, his heart was racing with fear and felt like it was about to explode. "One of these was crawling around the RPD, it killed several officers before it escaped"

"Well this one didn't escape" David said cocking the shot gun.

The thudding down below began to become more regular as more and more of the un-dead began to accumulate around them.

"What do we do now?" asked James

"I don't know" David said as he checked the windows "They'll hang around out there until they see something that looks like lunch."

This was fast turning into the worst nightmare James had ever had, he just wished he'd wake up in his bed in his apartment to find this was all a dream. He didn't have to pinch himself to make sure because he'd suffered too many injuries which hurt to prove he wasn't sleeping.

They needed to get out of here they had to find someplace where those zombies couldn't get at them. He wracked his brain, they couldn't climb so the best place to hide would be a place high up yet not accessible by stairs. An idea occurred to him as he looked at the ceiling, there was a hatch which must lead to the attic. He moved over to one corner of the room and pointed upwards a small smile on his face.

"Hey David, we'll be safe up there" he said, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

"Where do we go from there" said David "I don't want to trap myself in one room with those things just below me trying to rip my throat out"

That was a problem James had to concede, if they went up there and the zombies broke in they'd be trapped. They also wouldn't just leave unless something else came around that they'd regard as food and as long as they were below more would start coming.

Crash!

Something had just rammed into the kitchen door and a breathing moan told them that creature wasn't dead, either that or there was another one of them. It had taken a shot gun blast at close range how could it survive that? David lifted up the shot gun and fired once, twice, three times into the wall trying to kill it before it broke through, but it also seriously weakened the barrier keeping it out.

David immediately changed his mind about the attic as he and James picked up a set of steps and intended to climb them up to the attic. David said he'd got first to make sure the coast was clear and began climbing it as another crash came at the door and its frame began to splinter, it was still alive! David pushed open the hatch and checked it was clear of any infected creatures before he climbed up. James got on the steps and began climbing to the edge of the hatch when.

Crash!

The thing had broken through with such force it not only force the door off its hinges but it slammed into the opposite wall causing the steps to tip up and James fell off them and began falling backwards towards the floor, knocking his head on the ground as he landed on a splintered plank of wood, this catapulted several things he had unpacked from that stupid box into the air, the saxophone, some books, that mask. He felt slightly dazed from the fall but he knew he had to get up and get out of here because any minute now that creature was going to get up and come at him again, and he could hear it getting up off the floor for another attack.

"David, help!" he cried as he saw the out of focus creature coming towards him, he looked up at the attic and saw the hatch close on him. _Why that back stabbing, two faced son of a…_

James eyes began to focus and he noticed something was falling towards his face the image became sharper as it came closer. It was that green mask again and it landed directly on his face. He tried to get up but it felt like something was holding him down mostly his own fatigue, he had no chance, he'd given up now there was no point, David had deserted him and he was going to die. Even if he survived this he wouldn't have the strength to continue on, he was too terrified of being alone in a city overrun by these things. He'd point his gun towards his head and end it all just to get out of the nightmare. He closed his eyes and waited for the strike from the Licker that would end his life.

Something strange was happening, he felt himself becoming more wide awake as his body filled up with an energy he had never experienced before and the entire room lit up in a loud thunder clap. His body felt like he was stretching it in the morning to ease the stiffness in the joints, why was it happening now? Was he dying? Had that thing killed him yet?

His head felt like something was trying to crush it, he reached up and felt something wriggling and writhing wrapping itself around his head, was this another of those monsters? Was it like that thing in those 'Alien' movies that clamped over your face and laid and egg inside the throat? He opened his eyes he could still see out of whatever was wrapping around his face, he saw that creature it had regained its composure and was slowly crawling towards him. It stopped just a little away as it jerked its head ready to attack.

James suddenly found himself being forced to his feet by an unknown force and he began to spin around incredibly fast. Despite the spinning he was aware that the creature had just tried to attack him with its razor sharp tongue again but he had spun out of the way just in time.

He felt himself whizzing around the room avoiding the Lickers every attack with lighting like speed. Everything was whirling around him much, much too fast for him to comprehend, everything just mixed together into a swirl of colours. He was coming to a stop but something was wrong, something was different he didn't feel the same anymore. A loud screech came like the noise of a car putting its breaks on and his spin just stopped suddenly.

For some reason he now felt full of confidence and energy when not long ago he had been feeling frightened, terrified and willing to accept his fate, but now he didn't feel anything like that, he wanted to live, he felt invincible and he wanted to have fun!

"GOOOOOOD MOOORRRNINGGG Racoon City!" he shouted flinging his arms out, why did he just do that? Then the answer came into his head 'because he could'

The creature's tongue began curling around preparing for another attack

"Hey there! Do you do tongues?" he said smiling as it flung its tongue at him but some how he instinctively knew what to do, he warped his body. His head and feet stayed where they were as he bent his body to the left allowing the sharp tongue to pass by him. His body warped to such a degree that if he was in his right mind he would've questioned it.

It attacked again and he manipulated himself to the right. The tongue came again closer to his groin area so he reached down with both hands took hold of the crotch of his trousers and forced his torso to compress upwards and his legs to extend as the Licker's tongue shot between his legs, when the tongue left he let his body fall back to the correct shape.

James moved suddenly to stand next to the creature, something he wouldn't normally have done but for some reason he didn't feel scared of this thing at all. Its tongue whipped around as it recoiled back to its head. James grabbed it in his open hand before it slipped back into its mouth and held it out pulling it from its mouth until it was at arms length, he noticed from his sleeve he had somehow dressed himself in a doctors white coat without even changing out of his police uniform, in fact he wasn't even wearing his uniform anymore just the type of clothes you'd expect to see on a surgeon. He was examining the tongue with a magnifying glass… and where had that come from?

"Ohh, you know I don't like the look of this." He said as he stretched it out as far as he could stretch it "you've got a sharp pointy tongue, my friend" he said as he reached into the coat pocket and took out a cork which he stuck on the end of its tongue. "There that's fixed it!"

He let go and let the tongue snapped back into the Licker's mouth. It tried to fire it back at him again to pierce his body but it just bounced off him. Realising its attack wasn't working it leapt into the air and tried to slash him with its long claws.

James took a step back and from under his coat he pulled a long pirates cutlass which caught the monsters claws with a clang. It reached back and tried to attack again with its other claw but again James just caught the claw on his cutlass.

"Arrrhhh!" he said in a pirate voice, strange because he realised he was now dressed in a pirates outfit with a long black beard "Yea scurvy looking barnacle, I'll keelhaul you!"

James knocked the claws out of the way and with one swift push he thrust his cutlass through the things torso and pierced the wall behind it. James let go of the cutlass and too a step back. The thing rived in agony as it tried to claw at the sword that was keeping it pinned to the wall and slowly it stopped its struggled and its limbs now fell limply by its side, it was dead.

"That's got you licked!" he quipped. Since when did he quip like this?

He turned around to see a mirror on the wall and nearly yelped in surprise, he knelt down quickly to hide himself. Why was he hiding? He had just defeated that monster… somehow, where had all that stuff he used come from anyway?

He slowly stood up again and looked at the mirror again. That was him in the mirror? The face that stared back at him was not his own, it was green, a big green balled head that was twice as large as his own. His face had altered as well, his ears were missing, he could still hear what was happening around him and he could still feel them, they were just somewhere under this mask, somewhere. His nose had changed shape, it was now hooked and twice as smaller than it used to be, and as if to compensate for his shrunken nose and lost ears his eyes had grown to three or four times larger than they were before and his eye sockets and head had adjusted to accommodate them, despite their change in size however they were still his usual shade of blue though the irises were twice as large than normal. He grinned at how odd it looked and saw a row of massive teeth far too big for his jaws to handle, they were almost the size of baseball cards.

That's when it hit him, he looked like that murderer he realised, the one that killed several people, the one that 'traitor' David told him about. For some reason everything about that weird case of his suddenly started to make a strange sort of sense, the reason they never could find that green rubber mask the murderer wore was because it didn't look like a green rubber mask. James reached up and felt the texture of the Mask that currently hugged his head, somehow that lump of mouldy wood had transformed and wrapped itself around his head turning itself into this big rubber green one and looked just like that murderers mask, and more than that the Mask had radically altered his appearance. Could this be the same one? The one that murderer used?

Knock, knock, tap, tap came the sound of the walking cadavers outside trying to get in. Why had he been so frightened of a bunch of walking corpses? He wondered. He'd met girls in the red light district who looked more wasted and more frightening than those walking worm farms out there. Without a second thought he drew the blinds on the window, flipped the catch and opened it up. He looked down at the gathering mass of zombies on the ground.

"Sorry!" he shouted down "You can't dine here unless you're wearing a tie!"

With that he launched himself out of the window into the air and travelled all the way to the other side of the street before he landed perfectly like a cat. He quickly spun around to face the army of zombies which slowly turned to look at him before actually lumbering towards him arms outstretched.

One zombie in particular a woman was coming towards him ahead of the others, had she not been dead she would've been pretty, only her skin was pale she had bite marks all over her and her eyes looked white and were filled with no other emotion then perhaps the slight hint of hunger. Her arms which were covered in cuts and bites reached up and attempted to grab him.

James crossed one of his legs over the other and sent himself into a fast spin which lasted no more then a second, but when he stopped he was in a different set of clothes. He was dressed like some sort of Mexican dancer with a sombrero which hung around his back by the neck strings.

He took the woman by the arms and spun her around before performing a weird mixture of dances with this rotting corpse of a woman. All the time her head was trying to get into a position so she could bite him but never actually managing to do it, her limbs however seemed to perfectly match his while he was dancing. He had no idea why he was doing this for several reasons, one though he considered himself a decent dancer some of the dances he was now performing he couldn't do to save his life, yet he somehow instinctively knew how to perform them perfectly, two he'd never want to get anywhere near touching distance to a zombie, but he had to admit what he was doing it did look funny.

Armed with this new knowledge he spun the woman zombie so fast everything about her was blurred and with one swift kick he sent her twirling into the zombie horde knocking them down to the ground with a loud, 'clack' which sounded like the noise when you got a strike at bowling. The un-phase zombies began to stand again and soon they were back to their feet and started lumbering towards him again.

James leapt into the air and landed a little further down the street in the middle of the road. He had no idea why he was going to do what he was going to do next but he just knew it would look amusing. The zombies lumbered towards him but rather then focusing towards him he somehow was able to make them become evenly spaced out. Music began to fill the air, the source of which was a mystery to him but he heard it alright and it was very familiar.

* * *

From his hiding place David opened the hatch to the attic and allowed the barrel of his reloaded shotgun to poke down in case that thing was out there. He had been right, the attic didn't lead anywhere it was a dead end. He had also heard strange noises and voices from down stairs and assumed James had gone slowly insane as the monster killed him. He didn't really want to leave him but he didn't have a choice, if his shot gun couldn't kill that thing then what would? Plus James had been a coward, he wouldn't have lasted two minutes without him to hold his hand, David decided he was probably a lot better off now that he didn't have to look after him anymore. He did have a slight pang of guilt about leaving James to his fate but the rules of life had changed, it was survival of the fittest again.

He saw that the room was now a mess from the fight between James and the thing and by the look of it, James had put up some fight. Boxes lay open their contents spilled all over the floor, the table was broken and the window was open.

Where was James? If the monster killed him maybe he was injured or had turned into a zombie, if he had then he was still down there walking around mindless. Either way David decided he'd do the kindest thing and put him out of his misery when he saw him.

As he lowered himself down into the room he saw the creature that attacked them pinned to the wall by what looked like a pirate's cutlass. But if James had managed to kill it where was he? Ideas and scenarios rushed through his head, maybe James killed the monster but his injuries turned him into one of those things.

He checked the kitchen and covered the door, it was a wreck but there was no sigh of James. He turned to look at the door that lead down stairs it was still closed. His attention returned to the monster pinned to the wall, it was one ugly looking thing and it didn't look like something which naturally evolved, it looked more like something a twisted mad scientist created in his lab. A chill ran up his spine, it was usually at times like this in a horror movie that the monster returned to life and killed the unsuspecting victim.

It was then he noticed something, or rather the absence of something. Last he realised the zombies had started bagging on the walls below trying to get in after James dropped that stupid board game on the floor. But he couldn't hear any banging of hands on the windows outside but he could hear their moans much louder then before.

He felt a slight breeze at the back of his neck and turned around expecting to see another monster breathing down his neck, but there was no monster just an open window from which music started spilling through. What idiot started playing music at a time like this? But wait if someone was playing music that meant there were more people alive out there and more then that it would draw the attention of the zombies away from him.

He went up to the window and gently peered out of it so any looking zombie wouldn't see him directly. The music was oddly familiar, he decided with a very familiar beat. He could see a horde of zombies walking towards one man, a man in a big green mask, large eyes and massive teeth and was grinning like a maniac. He looked like that murdering maniac they caught a few weeks back, but this couldn't be him he was dead. Then who was this guy and what was he doing just standing there as the living dead came closer towards him? It was then he recognised the music as for some reason this green headed man broke into song and dance.

"Cos this is Thriller!" the man sang, he started singing and dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller as those things still crept towards him. David decided the man was completely insane when…

This can't be right! He couldn't believe it! The zombies all leapt into the air at the same time and landed precisely, each one matching each others movements. They were dancing? The zombies were dancing! To Michael Jackons Thriller! Their movements were all perfectly in sync with each other and this masked mans, did David hit his head while up in the attic?

"Thriller night!"

Did that line come from the zombies mouths?

"…and no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike!"

Though the zombies' arms and legs moved with precision their eyes never left the masked man and never registered anything other then hunger, they appeared to have lost control of everything apart from their eyes. Was this guy controlling them somehow? They still danced and matched his moves as he continued to sing.

"You know it's Thriller!… Thriller night! You're fighting for your life inside a!... Killer, Thriller Tonight!"

He must be going insane. Zombies couldn't dance, they could hardly walk and here they were dancing away to a Michael Jackson song that featured zombies in the music video, and they were matching all the moves precisely.

He watched transfixed by this unusual scene he was seeing. The song was coming to an end as the zombies in sync dance came to its conclusion.

"Girl I can thrill you more then any ghoul who could dare try!"

"Thriller! Thriller Night!"

"So let me hold you tight and share a killer, diller…"

The masked man spun around and struck a pose screaming "OWW!" the other zombies also adopted strange poses, some frightening others just looked comical. Throughout this entire dance routine their creepy, hungry eyes never left the green faced man the only thing near to them that they considered a 'meal' and even now frozen in their poses their eyes still looked at him, longing to get their hands on him and bite into his flesh.

Crash!

Something was coming down the road and at great speed, it smashed a crashed car out of the way as it tore past. It was a tram moving very fast through the streets. The masked man and the zombies were directly in its path and couldn't get out of the way fast enough. It ploughed through the middle of them not only killing those zombies but running down the green faced man in the process.

"Frigging idiot" David muttered. The tram which consisted of two carriages continued unhindered on its way. On top of the rear carriage though stood a man of some sort, he had a broad frame of considerable muscle bulk and wore a great big leather coat and boots and looked like he was carrying some sort of rocket launcher on his back. That was the best look David managed to get of this long figure as the tram disappeared into the night.

Where a horde of zombies once stood there now were only about half a dozen that were still walking. This evened out the odds for when he moved out in the morning but where had that green headed man gone? His body wasn't among the mangled remains of the zombies. By the morning he'll probably dismiss what he just saw as a hallucination or a dream or something but one question still stood in his mind. Whether dead, alive or dying, where the hell was James?

* * *

**Authors notes: **Michael Jackson, Thriller, written by Michael Jackson and the bits of the lyrics used are only used in humour, no copyright infringement is intended


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

James had to admit that as that tram came flying down the street he expected to feel a great bout of pain when it rammed into him. He imagined his body would be ripped to shreds by the trams wheels and his life would end painfully as his skull was crushed to a bloody pulp. He shut his eyes and waited for impact.

However when the tram rammed right into him he felt… nothing! Was he dead already? It was painless at least. As his eyes began to lazily open and he expected to see white clouds of heaven or the fires of hell or even just blackness. What he was seeing could be classed as blackness but it wasn't the sort of static blackness he was expecting. It was more a mixture of shades of fast moving grey which blurred together as it moved past him from the top of his view to the bottom rapidly. Every now and again he saw bits of white and red as something else passed by his view. He also felt a very vivid gust over his face blowing down on his head, was he racing up towards heaven or something?

It was then he registered the loud 'clitter clatter' of tram wheels moving very fast on a track and as he looked to his left and right he saw a whirling tram wheel next to his head. He had been ran over by the tram alright, but somehow he was stuck to the underside of it like a bug stuck to the windscreen of a car.

Suddenly a loud crash came from somewhere along the tram and he felt his arm come free, he tried not to let it make contact with the fast moving tarmac because he knew if it did it would rip his arm off.

He heard the sound of people above somewhere moving around, and then he heard the sound of a door being slid open and closed. If there were people up there then he has a chance of surviving this nightmare.

Then came a great 'roar' of a voice which sounded like a monster somewhere above and loud thudding footsteps started to come near to where he was. He heard gun shots being exchanged then hurried voices before the tram hit a particular nasty bump in the track. His head came unstuck and it slammed into the tarmac and he felt the tram race past him as his face now stuck to the tarmac and held him tight as his entire body peeled from the underside of the tram. Only after that did the road let go of his face and he was sent into a roll along the tracks and only came to a stop when he slammed into something, which turned out to be a destroyed, burnt out car.

The sensation of hitting his face on fast moving tarmac hadn't been as painful as he had expected, in fact he had to admit it felt rather pleasant to feel his body peel away from the underside of the carriage he was attached to though why it did feel pleasant he couldn't understand, his body should be racked with pain and his neck should've been snapped clean off and his face at least should be sanded away to nothing. But as he felt his features they all seemed to be perfectly in place. James shrugged as he sat on the cold tarmac in thought, which were of the green Mask which covered his entire head making it look larger then it actually was. He'd somehow instinctively done several seemingly impossible things as if they were the norm to him.

A massive thundering explosion sound suddenly came from the tram he'd just detached from and the carriage at the rear of the tram exploded in a ball of flame throwing the form of a large man clear of it and landed on the ground with a heavy thud. The tram rolled on undeterred by the explosion from its rear carriage.

James got up from his sitting position and brushed himself off as around him several sparkly spaced zombies spotted him and started shifting awkwardly towards him. James Denning would've started running for his life and would be firing off shots from his gun. But strangely enough this "James Denning" kept his cool as he picked out flakes of broken glass from the lapels of a red suit –which he had somehow changed into without noticing- without a care in the world.

His attention returned to the large man who lay still on the ground apparently dead. He seemed to have incredible muscle bulk and his legs and feet were massive like those of an elephant and he had arms like telephone poles. His face was incredibly scared and looked like he had several skin grafts in his life, one large piece of skin covered most of the right side of his face including his right eye, and only his left eye seemed to remain.

Whoever this guy was he seemed to have seen some action at sometime in his life, but his large form somehow made him seem unreal. Oh and one minor detail he forgot to take note of, he was currently on fire.

"Hmm" he said picking up on of the dead mans large arms "a little overdone for my liking" he said talking in the voice of a chief. Why did he just make that quip? It was tasteless and now wasn't the time for it, a man had just died and for some reason he didn't seem to want to do anything but make jokes about him. As these thoughts went through his head he realized it wasn't translating to his face, which still held that mischievous grin on it, showing rows of large teeth.

The arm suddenly jerked and James opened his mouth as wide as a trash can lid and screamed at the top of his lungs.

The large man began getting up and appeared to be feeling no pain whatsoever to the flames which danced over him. He stood an impressive eight feet by his reckoning and as his feet made contact with the ground they created a slight 'thud' as if he were an elephant. The head of the man turned to look at him.

"Hey Hightower!" he quipped "you're sssssmokin'!" and actually he was as the flames still covered his body and he made no attempt to put them our showed any indication that he felt any pain from them.

The man just regarded him with blank staring eyes, then his heavy brow lowered over his left eye as if he was trying to make him out as a thereat or not. He didn't seem to speak though his mouth looked horrific as if he'd just spent three weeks with an elephant sat on it. A low growl came from his mouth as he concentrated. What was wrong with him? Did he take one too many hits in the head as a kid? Was he the sort of person who needed special needs at school? If he was you wouldn't want to bully a kid this large.

"STARS!" came a deep rasp of a voice which hardly sounded human.

"Not yet, just a rookie cop right now, maybe in a few years" James said as he turned to look at the apocalypse of Raccoon City "Though I must say they have really let this place go!"

Thud, came the giants footsteps as it began walking away in the direction the tram was heading. The flames on its body somehow started to die out as it continued its slow walk along the track. James caught up with him in a second.

"So what's your story big fella?" James said walking smoothly next to him, James noticed his movements were sort of dancelike rather then the usual clumsy walk he usually had. The giant didn't seem to be paying any attention to him, at all.

"STARS!" it muttered again.

James looked up into the sky to look for any stars but it was a cloudy night so no stars could bee seen. He continued to follow this giant along the tramway but then sick of the silent treatment he stood in front of him and the giant stopped dead, the last thundering footstep he took echoed around the street as he looked down at James as if he were an annoying bug.

"Do you have someone who usually looks after you?" he said as if this guy was mentally retarded, not something he would've come out and said if he was in his right mind.

The giant took a step forward but James held his ground, then bash! He felt a sharp impact as the giant punched him in the face, the force of which caused him to fly backwards across the street crashing through the back end and out the front windscreen of a car before plowing through the wall of a burning building before his fall was broken by a table.

Though he hadn't felt the impact or at least it hadn't registered as full blown of pain, he now felt like he was in a daze. He reached up and felt his face amazingly it wasn't damaged in anyway though his sight was now clouded by a halo of circling stars.

"Hey look pal, I've found your stars!"

He felt cold hands pull at his arm which brought him immediately out of his daze and his head turned to see a scared grey face of a zombie woman crawling towards him. She began crawling over his body attempting to bite his neck.

"Hey!" he shouted as he tried to push her off him "No biting face on the first date!"

James pushed her up so she was standing and he pulled his legs into his body, aimed them and let them extend out with such force that the zombie's head snapped clean off its shoulders and rolled away. The headless corpse now took a step forward as if it were unsure if it still should be walking if its head was missing, but soon it made up its mind and fell to the floor in a heap.

"Hey don't lose your head…" he said as he picked up the zombie severed head by the hair "But you are 'so' not my type" with that he flung the head over his shoulder and leapt back through the hole he'd made in the wall and covered quite a distance before landing on the tarmac and broke into a run as he headed back towards the giant who had just clobbered him. He ran with incredible speed and was back by the giants' side so quickly he might've been the Flash.

The thing whatever it was, he'd decided it wasn't human anymore because its burn clothes showed large growths over its body as if it had a very aggressive form of cancer, the only time he'd seen skin like that was on the body of a mutant monster, therefore this thing was not human, at all.

"Touchy I see; you've got some issues I can tell" he said adopting a Sigmund Freud type voice. "Looking for z'ese stars o' yours!" it wasn't a particularly good representation of an Austrian accent. "I think I might be able to help you there" he said as he held one arm out at an angle behind him and from his sleeve he felt something very long emerge quickly into his waiting hand, whatever it was it had quite a weight attached to it. He swung it now taking it in both hands he pulled the heavy thing over his head and slammed –what, he could now tell was a large, heavy mallet- down on top of the giant's head.

He heard the splintering of wood and the cracking of something inside the monster, however the giant only took a step back and appeared completely un-phased. James brought the mallet around for another attack but as he held it in front of his face he registered that the large mallet end of his mallet was missing, there were only long splinters of wood from where it once had been connected. James' eyes widened and his jaw dropped, and dropped quite a considerable distance all the way down to his stomach area with what sounded like a loud clang of a hammer on an anvil which sounded very cartoonish.

"Ever considered a position in WWE? They could use someone like yhmgh" what he was going to say was stopped as the creature clamped James' entire head in his fist and lifted him up off the ground. It then swung him and threw him as far as it could. James smashed into the lower half of a lamppost and snapped it clean in half. As he fell to the ground he saw the top of the post slam down on top of a zombie who had been fast approaching James a look of hunger and the intent on ending that hunger clear on its face. It didn't attempt to put its hands up to prevent what was about to occur to it as the lamppost fell right down on top of it, crushing its head into a bloody pulp.

James still couldn't understand why he hadn't died yet, after being ran over, punched in the face and now thrust into a lamppost and he still didn't feel anything. He heard thudding footsteps behind him which got closer and closer. James turned to see the giant slowly approach him and he could swear he saw uncertainty in its eyes as if even the thing itself couldn't understand why James wasn't dead yet.

It arched its back and gave a deafening roar as it lowered its head and charged forward and raised its arm intent on delivering a killing blow. James stood and watched as the lumbering giant fast approached him with a speed he thought wouldn't be possible. Grinning again, he waited for the monster to be right up close to him… before he stepped out a foot and leant back catching the monsters heavy feet on his own and despite the momentum behind those heavy boots they didn't move James' foot out of the way. The monster stared falling forwards and landed smack on the ground causing it to shake violently.

James had just tripped the monster up as easily as you might trip up a child and… it was amusing to see the look of annoyance on its face. This was incredible, he decided, this Mask somehow enabled him to do things which he would normally think of as impossible, both physically and mentally of himself and the universe around him. For a start he knew he couldn't die while he was wearing this thing, he was also oozing with a confidence which he'd never felt before in his life since he asked Amy Roberts to go to the Raccoon School dance with him and she'd said yes. He was also apparently able to conjure objects out of thin air as that mallet had just proven.

Smack! Something rammed into his head and he was sent flying so far into the air he could see his apartment from where he was. But his short light was cut even shorter as he suddenly started to come crashing down to earth very fast. He'd survived impacts with solid walls and lampposts so surely he could survive this… right? Though he didn't really feel like hitting the ground at terminal velocity right now and began cycling through what he could do to stop himself.

"Go, Go Gadget Copter!" he found himself saying, _oh yeah right as if that would've worked_ he thought. But strangely as soon as those words left his mouth he felt his head pop open like a trunk and extending from his skull were a pair of red helicopter propeller blades and handles which folded themselves out neatly above his head.

_You… have… got… to be kidding!_ He thought slowly as he took the handles and the rotor blades began rotating faster and faster. Unfortunately they didn't work fast enough. Slam! He hit the ground with such force he created a James shaped hole in the tarmac a few meters deep.

He slowly crawled out, dazed but not hurt. _I knew I could survive this fall_ he thought as the broken rotor blades began folding back into his cranium which snapped shut. Pulling himself clear of the wreckage he used his new special speed ability to get back to the place where that giant once was very quickly. But he was gone!

"Hightower?" he called out the name he had given him, but apparently he had vanished. He sped into four adjacent streets looking for any sign of the large man but he had completely vanished.

'Clang!' came the noise of a bell 'clang' it came again, a clock somewhere had probably struck the hour but over the noise of the clangs he heard something distinctive. Rotor blades of a helicopter! He realized, helicopter meant rescue, rescue meant people and people meant girls! Why was he suddenly thinking of girls when his life was in danger in this city? But that thought was soon put out of his head when he then heard a loud bang which completely overshadowed the sound of the rotor blades, then an explosion somewhere in the distance. When it faded away he couldn't hear the rotor blades anymore.

It sounded like whoever was flying the thing had just crashed it or something like that. "Drat!" he said snapping his fingers. He then stretched out his left arm and from the sleeve extended a long metal pike which went straight through the mouth of a zombie, who was lumbering towards him, and out the back of his head killing it instantly.

"Wonder if there's a burger joint around here?" he said out loud, it had been a long time since he last ate and he could just go for some freshly cooked food right about now.

During the rest of the night he arrived at a place called J's Bar and prepared food for himself and discovered wearing this Mask also made him a master chief, he had no idea how it worked but it was just a fantastic experience. While he prepared food and ate it he taunted the zombies who were already inside the bar and didn't seem to care about what he said or did to them, all they seemed to care about was that their 'food' was actually feasting itself while they struggled to even grab him and take a bite. He even played the bartender for a bit and served drinks to the group of zombies inside, of course they wouldn't drink the stuff voluntarily he had to force it down their throats.

The reason he did this was simple, he wanted to see if alcohol affected the zombies' already jerky motions, he chuckled as he thought this up. One look outside and he noticed he'd attracted quite a horde of zombies banging on the walls and glass trying to break in to get at him.

"Sorry guys" he said "You can't dine here unless you're wearing a tie!" he'd used it before but it was more appropriate here he decided.

Dawn was fast approaching he noticed so he then played the part of the bouncer of J's Bar and physically threw each zombie out, trying his best to see if he can throw them into the garbage cans across the littered road. Crash, one landed directly inside and the lid slammed shut on it.

"TWENTY POINTS!" he bellowed as out went another, and another. When the last one was out he shut the door and put a sign up on the door which read 'closed'.

He left by the back door chuckling to himself and began walking down the alleyway that would lead him towards his next amusing encounter with zombies and monsters. He turned a corner back onto the road and saw a giant gang of zombies coming out from down the street. There must've been about 50 at least and they all attempted to quicken their pace the moment they saw him.

The bright sun shone from between two buildings which temporarily blinded him until he somehow managed to obtain a pair of sunglasses that he placed over his eyes. He then reached into his red suit pockets and attempted to pull out a gun of some sort. But he couldn't feel anything. Maybe a baseball bat, he could use one of them. Nothing came from his trouser pockets either. A lightsabre he decided, a lightsabre would be ideal for taking down a horde of zombies. But he couldn't even pull anything like that from his pockets, none of them. All the time the zombies shuffled towards him menacingly.

He started to get a tingling feeling from his face like pins and needles, he reached up to check the feeling in his face, something was wrong! His face felt like it was melting, no the Mask felt like it was melting, the rubbery texture for some reason felt more like hot wax without being hot. He started to feel the energy and confidence drain from him as if someone had just blown a hole in a large dam and the water was draining away.

His black shades vanished and he felt the glare of the sun more on his face which felt like it was starting to drop off. He put his hands up to his face in an attempt to stop whatever it was that was happening. He heard a crack of thunder as the rubbery substance which covered his face felt like it was becoming something much more solid and he felt his comfortable suit begin to tighten and become more heavy, looking at his sleeves he saw his suit was turning back into his police uniform.

He felt as if a wind was blowing all around him as he steadily felt colder and colder with a feeling of being physically drained, he felt the power leave him and with a final thunder crack which sort of ended in a pathetic hiss, he felt the rubber Mask quickly come off his face, reduce to its original size and turned back into its wooden form.

"What the…?" he asked looking at the edges of the wooden, green painted mask covering his face. _What just happened, where am I?_ He asked himself. A loud collection of moans and groans caught his attention and his eyes turned back to look at the massive horde of zombies which were -as he just stood there clutching the 'not working' wooden mask to his face- continued to lumber towards him hunger clear on their faces.

"Oh crap!"

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Authors Notes:** Hope everyone's enjoying the story.


	5. Chapter 4

**From the diary of James Denning**

**September 28th**

**Sunrise**

I don't know exactly what happened last night, it kind of felt like a dream it must've been a dream surely?

I found a mask in the pawn shop, a very strange sort of mask it was very old and made of wood but I could hardly take my eyes off the thing and was tempted to put it on though I didn't know why. We were suddenly attacked by one of those monsters a skinless creature with a long tongue we fought in the RPD which we named the 'licker'. During the fight I was abandoned by David as he retreated into the attic and left me to die. I would've met my end there and then but that strange mask somehow landed on my face.

It felt like it infused me with some sort of power and when I came out of this strange 'transformation' I didn't feel the same as before and I had new strange abilities. I found out immediately that I appeared to be able to pull objects from thin air like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat or birds from his sleeves. Only I manage to pull weapons and guns out of thin air. I am also much faster, I can probably get from one side of the city to the other in a matter of seconds. But probably the most noticeable ability is that I can't die. I have been ran over by a speeding tram, punched and crushed several times by another one of those monsters. I have even fallen from a great height and I landed apparently unharmed. It is impossible I know, yet this all appears to be real, oddly enough I wasn't acting as if any of this was strange, I seemed to instinctively know what I was capable of because I preformed these miracles without prior knowledge that I could.

I survived the attack by the 'licker' and killed it as easily as swatting a fly. I then left my hiding place and took on a horde of zombies. That's another thing, wearing this mask I didn't feel like I was in my right mind, I attacked, killed, got really close up and even danced, literally danced with zombies and danced very well. But in reality I wouldn't touch a zombie with a ten foot pole, and 'really' I can't dance to save my life, I just think I can sometimes so when I meet girls I come across as confident, but the moment I hit the dance floor I'm like a man with a broken hip. Yet the Mask somehow gave me the ability to dance like Michael Jackson.

At the end of the night I ended up in J's Bar across town where I had some fun with another bunch of zombies. I'm sure I had been bitten and scratched by those creatures yet I wasn't falling ill or dying or anything like that, I am invulnerable. I had the time of my life wearing that thing but it was apparently too good to last because I was about to attack a large gang of zombies out in the street when I felt the power begin to leave me. I stood there in front of this gang of zombies helpless as I felt this strange mask began to detach from my face, leaving me to face these zombies powerless, defenceless and also weapon-less.

**-James Denning**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

James held the wooden mask to his face, at first he couldn't remember where he was or how he got there. But everything began flooding back to him as his 'normal' self caught up with the rest of his memories. His face turned from one of bemusement to one of utter horror as he saw a massive horde of moaning zombies lumbering towards him arm's outstretched and groaning hungrily.

James lowered the Mask from his face for a moment unable to believe what he had apparently done tonight but also unable to accept that he lost the power probably at the worst possible time.

He began taking a few steps back as he pushed the Mask back onto his face, he willed it to work, to wrap around his face again and take effect but it stubbornly refused to work. So focused was he on trying to get it to work again that he didn't notice a zombie from just to his left, obscured by the solid green form of the mask in front of his eyes that he didn't know it was coming until it was too late.

Cold hands wrapped around his arm and pulled at him, his hand came away from the Mask and in a moment of panic the piece of wood and metal fell from his hands and clattered to the floor.

The assaulting zombie was grey skinned and completely eyeless yet it somehow knew exactly where he was as it tried to bite down on his arm, James pushed on the undead man with his other arm and the zombies grip was broken and it began to fall back. Then he noticed something disgusting about him, there was a large hole in its side where a stream of intestines had uncurled from its torso and were trailing along the ground from the direction it came from. The animated cadaver started to sit up stiffly and its hands continued to reach out as if inviting James to go over and help it up.

James looked around for that Mask and he spotted it laying face up on the floor. He tried to go grab it but stopped when lumbering feet came down around the green wooden thing. James jumped back a few steps and watched as the Mask disappeared deeper and deeper into the crowd of zombies which continued to advance closer and closer towards him.

Weighing up his options he decided there was no point trying to retrieve the Mask if it didn't work so he did the only thing he could. He turned around and ran as fast as he could away from them. He may not be as fast as he was wearing the Mask, but he was still fast enough to outrun his pursuers who could only shuffle their feet.

He ran as fast as he could down the street until he had put plenty of space between him and the undead, but then his mind turned to other things. Like where would he go? What could he do? His stomach felt heavy as if the bottom was about to fall out of it. He was invincible while wearing that mask he felt safe, but now that it didn't work and with David deserting him he had no one to turn to, nowhere to run, and it didn't matter where he went, where he hid the undead would just follow and keep coming and coming and coming until they ripped down the walls of his sanctuary and ripped him apart.

"HEY, HEY!" someone shouted, James looked around frantically for where that shout came from. Only a human could speak perfect English and his heart leapt at the hope of his own survival.

"HEY!" came the sound again and James zeroed in on an apartment building only three stories high but from the door on the ground floor was a man waving at him frantically to get inside quick. The man was of an African American descent and dressed in raggedy cheap red clothes, but right now James wasn't going to judge by appearances. If this man was offering him shelter then he was sure going to take it. James took one last look at the large horde of ghouls almost breathing down his back and he ran full speed at the door, up the porch and practically dived through it.

The man slammed the door and locked it tight with a pad lock, he then took hold of a shot gun which was leaning against the wall and motioned for James to follow him as he heard the sound of many hands smacking against the wooden door. Unfortunately the zombies hadn't lost his scent and would hammer away at their hiding place until it fell. Though by the look of the place he doubted if anyone could survive here against the undead it was a complete wreck and by the way the man was waving at him to follow he didn't think they were staying here.

James followed the man as they ran up the stairs of the apartment building going higher and higher and higher and amazingly they didn't encounter any walking dead in this building, or if they did encounter dead they weren't walking, most had been shot in the head and by the exit and entry wound he'd guessed it would've been murder, if they had been alive when they were shot that is.

They continued climbing the stairs until they got to the roof. Did this guy have a chopper? The answer was obviously no they burst onto the roof to find nothing here. The man however then ran full pelt to the edge of the building and leapt from one roof top to another.

James hadn't counted on jumping from roof to roof but when it came to either waiting here for the zombies or monsters to find him or following the man with a gun willing to help him there was really no competition. He took a few steps back and tried to get ready, he ran full pelt at the edge of the roof but stopped just before the edge.

"I just need a better run up" he said to him as he went as far along the roof as he could to the other side, then broke into a run and leapt into the air as he reach the edge and landed unceremoniously in a heap on the next roof top at the feet of the African man who didn't say anything and looked less than impressed.

They repeated this feat a few more times leaping over the roof tops from apartment building to apartment building. The man then leapt a great distance over a wide alley way which James would never think he could make, had he been in his right mind he wouldn't even had tried it, but he did and missed.

His torso slammed into the wall but thankfully his arms were over the edge and he managed to grip onto the roof tiles to prevent himself from falling. He frantically tried to pull himself up but he was so tired from the previous night he couldn't get a good grip. The man however saw his distress and came back to help him up onto the roof. The look on this man's face made him look like he was fast considering if saving him was a mistake.

They continued on towards a door of a four story apartment building attached to the building they were standing on. As they ran towards it, it appeared to open automatically and the man and James rushed into the building as the door slammed shut behind then and with a loud clunk he heard a massive lock swing into place on the door. Then he heard a slight click as a gun was pushed into his back.

"Don't move copper!" said a rough voice as this other person jabbed the gun into James' back to get the point across. What had he gotten into now?

James held up his hands slowly and kept his cool, he was actually training for situations like this and how to handle them, true he didn't receive much training since he only joined the police force a few weeks back but he knew he had to keep his cool which he was probably doing very badly. At least these guys didn't want to eat him he conceded.

The room he was in was quite small and contained a large group of people who almost dressed in exactly the same type of clothes. They also pulled out their guns and pointed them directly at him. Another person then began inspecting him for some reason, probably checking for weapons they could use, or more likely for bites.

"Have you been bitten?" said the rough voice.

"No" he said maybe a little too quickly to be calm. "I'm clean"

"No weapons either" said another one. Around him most of the people standing around turned to regard him coldly. Most of these people were male and some were of African American descent t he rest where white and a bunch of them were dressed in a bright shade of red. He recognised these people in red, they were a gang of youths called the Red Skulls who usually hung around the neighbourhood around J's Bar.

"Can you handle gun?" said the man holding the gun to his back again.

"Yeah, I can handle a gun" James said an underlying nervousness was clear in his voice though he didn't want it to be. He was supposed to be a cop why didn't he join the police force earlier? He could've got some training before this nightmare even happened.

"Are you crazy we can't trust him!" said someone in the crowd

"Yeah, he's a cop!" said another

"He's an extra gun, that's all that matters" said the man who save his life.

"Jeff! He's a cop!" called another voice "I say we kill him now!"

"No, I say we throw him to the zombies outside!" said another and most of the other gang members seemed to agree with whoever spoke, those who agreed looked at him with murderous intent in their eyes, James could feel the combined hatred they all had for the police radiate from them, it was so thick you could cut it with a knife. He didn't want to be thrown to the zombies and though he was showing his discomfort there actually seemed to be arguments sparking between two separate groups in this gang, those who wanted to kill him, those who saw him as a spare gun.

"No!" said another man from a door at the back of the room, everyone turned to look at him as he stood almost silhouetted against the open door. He was a tall man and like most of them he was of African American descent, he was also balled but had a slight beard growing. He walked into the room and appeared to have a great presence about him, he was obviously the man in charge as everyone appeared to respect him by not talking when he was talking.

"Carl!..." said one person in particular, he was young and skinny, but he was dressed not in red, but in green. There were quite a few people dressed in green in this room, they were a gang called Green Ballas. Strange though, because the Red Skulls and the Green Ballas were supposed to be mortal enemies. "...he's a cop!"

"What's he going to do?" the man called Carl said as he came into the room "arrest us? Lock us up?" he towered over James and stared at him as if examining him.

"It's the rules of the streets" said the skinny man again "we never allay ourselves with the fuzz!"

"The rules of the streets have changed" said Carl as he finally turned to look at the man, at all of them "Our colours no longer matter, our uniforms no longer matter. Those creatures out there don't care if you're a Red Skull or a Green Balla or a cop. They'll kill you no matter what flag you fly or which street you believe in. The only rule that matters now is survival and the greater our numbers against the living dead the greater our chance of survival. We have stock piles of weapons but limited number of hands to use them. A weapon is only as good as the man behind it, but a weapon by itself is useless" He turned to regard James and so did everyone else in the room.

"This man gives us one more gun to use against the undead" he added

"He's also a drain on resources!" cried the skinny man followed by agreed murmurs from some of the others around him. "It's the end of the world, its every man for himself!"

"If that is true then maybe you should leave us, Jacob" the skinny man then fell silent "Well?" said Carl as he took a step forward "if you believe it's every man for himself you're welcome to leave." Jacob said nothing and appeared to be shrinking away from Carl, who then regarded everyone in the room as he said "Anyone who shares that belief is welcome to leave, if it's every man for himself then you have no interest in helping the rest of the group survive and if that's how you think then your nothing but excess baggage."

The rest of the group started backing down except for Jacob whom Carl simply stared at. The skinny man opened his mouth to say something but Carl stopped him as he said "Choose your next words wisely, Jacob."

Jacob stood there and waited for a moment staring at Carl. The tension that filled the room, as one waited for the other to make a move, was such that all the thoughts of the horrors outside were forgotten. Eventually though Jacob backed down and retreated to his corner of the room.

Carl then turned around to face James, though his face was one of impassive calm he seemed to give off the energy of a man secure in his rule of the gang and knew how to maintain it.

"What's your name?" he asked

"James Denning" James replied quickly

"Are you a cop?" he asked. Though James was wearing a police uniform he guessed it was possible someone could steal police body armour from the precinct or off a dead cop.

"Yes" he answered simply, he didn't want to say he was a rookie in case they decided it was not worth keeping him and threw him out.

"A rookie?" Carl then asked taking James by surprise. A slight smile on Carl's face told him that he'd just answered the question. "I thought so, you don't hold yourself like a cop with years of experience."

He reached under his jacket and produced a gun, a .45 calibre standard issue police pistol. He pointed it at James for a moment who simply looked down the black barrel and almost expected to feel hot metal rip his chest apart. But Carl let the pistol rotate around his finger so the butt end was facing James. Getting the idea James slowly and carefully took it from his hand.

'A weapon is only as good as the man behind it, but a weapon by itself is useless'

* * *

Though James was welcomed by Carl to the group he couldn't help but still feel the radiating dislike the others had for him. They were all gangsters and scumbags in his book, yet they were all rival gangsters and scumbags who somehow found a common ground to work together. The Red Skulls and the Green Ballas were occupying the same room and weren't shooting at each other, it was like a miracle after all the trouble the police force had to put up with them shooting at each other.

The skinny one called Jacob had an especial dislike for him but for what reason he didn't know. He supposed it's because he flew the 'flag' of the RPD and didn't so much as see him a law enforcer but a member of a more powerful rival gang who wandered into his territory.

Carl was practically legendary around these parts of the city, he was almost like the mafia boss and he always seemed to vanish at the right moment before capture and he always managed to inspire his gang members to fight for their colours. But he wasn't exactly how James imagined him to be, he expected Carl to be tall and intimidating and he was, but he seemed to be reasonable as well and the Red Skulls obeyed him without question it seemed, but the Green Ballas looked like they were holding back their dislike for their red counterparts.

James tore himself away from the tension forming on the inside and risked a look outside. The windows were covered in blinds which pretty much cast the entire room in a dim gloom which was only banished away because someone had switched on the lights.

Through the blinds he could see that mass of zombies outside a few hundred yards away hammering on the door of the building he and that man disappeared into. He never thanked him he realized, that was mostly because he vanished again just after he brought him here. The walking dead just hammered at the door trying to break in obviously still convinced they were still inside.

He looked down towards the other end of the street, he must've ran past this building when he tried to escape the zombies right after… He was still unsure if what he was remembering was true or just a dream. Surely all those things he did. Dance with zombies, attacking that big monster and surviving, the 'gadget copter' moment, it can't be true can it?

There weren't as many infected down there as there were before, but there were quite a few still milling around with no direction and between a few of the zombies lumbering feet he caught sight of it. The Mask, the infected just stumbled over it and in one case a zombies foot landed on it and the infected lost its balance and fell over, kicking it further away.

He was sure he wasn't drugged last night because it felt much too real for that. But then why did the magic stop working? Why did the thing come off his face? Why did he lose his powers? He'd felt safe and secure inside that green rubber thing it encased his head in. He turned momentarily to look back into the room at the gang of people, those who were looking at him still showed the signs of dislike on their faces. If the magic was true then he'd rather be wearing that thing again out there then living in this room with a bunch of people who wanted to murder him for being a cop.

"Don't! It's not worth it" said a softer yet stern feminine voice. It belonged to a girl of about his height, she had long red hair which fell halfway down her swan like neck to her back her face was oval shaped and pretty, she had a pair of brown eyes which looked at him almost accusingly, a look a woman might give to someone who was looking longingly at something in a shop window they knew they can't have but would attempt to take it anyway. She wasn't part of either of the gangs he could tell because she was dressed in civilian clothes, because of the nasty glances some of the Green Ballas were still giving him he never registered the civilians also in the building with him. "It's not worth your life to get back." She said again

"What are you talking about?" asked James.

"The Mask" she replied "It's not worth braving those things outside"

"Mask?" he asked as if he hadn't heard correctly.

"Don't pretend you don't know about it" she said peevishly "I saw you prancing out of that alley wearing it, not a care in the world until the sun came up. I witnessed the transformation back into yourself." James's eyes widened at her words, was he imagining those words to?

"Could you just repeat that please?" he asked to make sure he heard correctly.

"Trust me, the Mask isn't worth it" she said again.

"No, no I meant the part about transformation" he asked but she didn't answer his question.

"Even if you survive the zombies outside and get it back that 'thing' will destroy you from the inside out" she pulled on the wire that closed the blinds completely so all view of the outside was gone.

"But what is it?" James found himself asking, she knew something about that Mask and he had so many questions like "Who made it? What's it for?" he voiced these questions but the woman didn't answer any of them. Either because she couldn't or didn't want to, but he had so many more burning questions he wanted to ask about it. Like why did it stop working in the first place? He had the time of his life last night and… night? The woman said 'I saw you prancing out of that alley wearing it, not a care in the world until the sun came up…' Until the sun came up? "Does it only work at night?" he found himself asking. This got the woman's attention.

"Listen flatfoot!" she said in annoyance "That thing is a curse! If you wear it again it'll soon warp your judgment and destroy you as it did…" she stopped momentarily as if contemplating what she was about to say next "as it did to the last person to wear it"

"Last person?" he asked remembering that story David told him back at the pawn shop last night about that green headed serial killer the RPD shot and killed a few weeks previous "You mean Justin Tucker that serial murderer?" Now ever her eyes showed a burning dislike of him.

"Listen flatfoot!" she said almost through gritted teeth "Justin Tucker may have been many terrible things but a serial killer he was not!"

The girl whoever she was obviously knew Justin personally but James didn't really want to upset her, not in front of several armed thugs who might shoot him dead at any minute. "Okay, I'm sorry"

"If you wanted any proof of what that thing will do to you, then Justin Tucker was the end result!" she said and she stormed off away from him back to the room she came from.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

**

* * *

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**Authors notes:**

I don't know if there were any gangs in Raccoon City, but there are now :P

I borrowed the gang name Ballas from the GTA San Andreas game.

The Red Skulls and the Green Ballas are both fictional gangs.

All reviews welcome


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The building the Red Skulls had claimed as their own sanctuary was a four story apartment building which lies firmly within their territory, or what used to be their territory before the living dead claimed it as a hunting ground. It had been made 'safe' according to the gang in that the elevators had been de-activated and the staircase leading from the ground floor had been demolished, smashed to smithereens to prevent the walking dead climbing up them if they managed to break into the ground floor, which was fortified with wooden beams across all doors and windows. James and the other police officers had used the same technique in the RPD with little success as the dead usually found a way inside and even if they didn't break down the barricade themselves something else would break it down for them.

The now demolished stairs had been replaced by a pair of wooden step ladders which were pulled up when not being used making the building practically zombie proof seeing as zombies had so little intelligence they couldn't or didn't know how to climb them.

The place was like a fortress, or a prison depending on your point of view, yes it was safe, surprisingly safer then the RPD but they were barricading themselves inside while the dead ruled the world outside. The longer they stayed here the harder it would be for them all to leave. In James' mind however it was more like a prison then a sanctuary, it had the lawless inmates already in it, all it needed was a few metal bars on the windows.

James had asked why they didn't just find a working vehicle and try to make a break for it to beyond the city limits, the immediate problem was pointed out however, the army had cordoned off all exits from the city, not such a bad idea to prevent the spread of infection but they also shot at anything which came close to the barricade whether it be living or dead.

James learned that some of the Green Ballas had tried to escape Raccoon City by similar means since they had the weapons and the resources, however most of them were gunned down while trying to cross Ravengate Bridge. Only a handful remained and while on their way back to the city they encountered an army of zombies that surrounded them on every corner. They were rescued when Carl and a group of Red Skulls fought them off and invited them into their hideout to strengthen their numbers. James was actually surprised that these two had called a truce for survival and put all sense of hatred for their respected colours to the back of their heads. To James this was just like a lion not killing a lamb, it was almost an impossible thing for him to comprehend yet here they were working together to fight for survival against the living dead.

"The trouble is we don't know if anywhere else is safe" said one of the Red Skulls who unlike the others seemed more inclined to regard James as an ally then a rival enemy, he was called Michael or Mike for short. "The city might not be the only place infected. What if it's global?"

"If it was global the army would hardly barricade us into the city, they'd be fighting their own battles" said a well spoken man. One of the civilians the group had rescued and 'recruited' this was Marcus Peel who'd introduced himself as a professor at Raccoon City university, though what profession he had he didn't say and like any professor he was dressed in a smart looking grey suit, or it would've been smart looking if it wasn't creased and didn't have smears of blood over it. Many of the gang members of the group had taken an immediate dislike of Marcus, mostly because of that well spoken voice of his which seemed to irritate the two gangs like nails on a chalk board.

Despite the two sides working together James had noticed some underlying tension between the two sides. The Red Skull leader, Carl seemed to keep butting heads with Jacob the self elected leader of the Green Ballas over trivial things like who should go scavenging for supplies and how much ammo each group should have and who should comprise of which group. However the argument was always settled in Carls favour because there were far more Red Skulls then there were Green Ballas.

Carl had taken some time to set down the ground rules of the building to James and introduced the man who saved his life from the walking cadavers. He was Carl's 'second in command' and was called Lance. Lance wasn't exactly part of the overall group, he'd go scavenging for supplies and ammo by himself because he maintained he was quicker and faster if he didn't have anyone else to worry about. James thanked him all the same for saving his life but Lance only muttered something like a 'don't mention it' kind of answer. Lance was in a pretty dark mood however because someone had caused a loud racket in J's Bar alerting every zombie for blocks around to come swarming down towards the source of noise meaning Lance couldn't move as effectively. James kept quiet about his part in that racket. Lance had asked him if he saw anyone around that area, James just lied and only admitted he heard the racket but not who caused it, it wasn't as if Lance would believe the truth anyway.

James still thought about that mask though, knowing it was only a few hundred yards away and yet he couldn't get to it. He'd learned from Marcus that the red headed woman who spoke to him about the thing was called Elaine Grant, though she kept to herself mostly she was often the one trying to give advice to the group but her arguments failed to sway their decisions probably because she was a woman Marcus had reasoned and they two gang members didn't seem to like taking advice from women. The only input she provided to the group that they had took any notice of was, or so James was told was when she spotted him running from the zombies and informed everyone that he was in need of help and she defended the case of going out to save him. Marcus never mentioned or asked about the Mask so he guessed he didn't know anything about it.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, it was a young very skinny black woman who was holding a bowl of very hot vegetable soup. Which James accepted immediately, he wasn't going to pass on the opportunity for something cooked. It wasn't as pleasant as one of those takeouts he'd get after a long days work at the station but it was warm at least and it was better than anything you get at a service station.

The woman was called Janine and she was sort of the cook of the group. She cooked food in one of the adjacent apartments which still had working electricity and gas supplies. She didn't speak much and she looked quite sad, her face looked like one which was used to smiling but Janine's lips didn't seem to curl into a smile at all.

What was to smile about though, James reasoned as he ate the soup. But James did find something to smile about in this prison, Elaine Grant, She was very pretty and a very fiery type of person judging by the way she treated the fools in the gang. James liked how she looked but he had to admit his success rate with women was never very high, add to the fact that they were surrounded by thousands of monsters wanting to eat them then it wasn't exactly the right moment.

All in all the group comprised of around 20 or more people, most were Red Skulls and Ballas but at least 6 of them were civilians, all of whom had their own separate rooms, this was an apartment building after all. After the warm breakfast he had James was shown to an empty room where he'd live while he was with the group.

It was very small, the bedroom, living room and kitchen had all been formed into one room. The only other two doors in the room lead to a bathroom and a closet which was filled with civilian clothes. Deciding the gang members of the group would be less hostile to him if he changed out of his uniform he donned civilian clothes and soon emerged in a white T-shirt and jeans, over his T-shirt however he continued to wear his body armour just in case. He also found a very battered brown leather jacket which he decided to wear as well.

He yawned, he was very tired. While wearing that mask he didn't get much sleep last night, with the Mask he felt alert and awake yet once it had fallen off and he arrived in this building his fatigue soon caught up with him.

He dropped himself onto the bed and decided to try to get some rest. He closed his eyes effectively shutting down that sense, but it made his other four become sharper, most notably his hearing. Subtle scratches and groans and moans form outside as the living dead wandered the streets below looking for food. He thought back to the first time he came face to face with those vicious creatures outside.

It had been a few days ago, the Raccoon City police department had made a few arrests of people who appeared to be mad with some sort of blood lust. Those he saw in the precinct were whole, whole as in they didn't have any injuries. Those who did were strapped down on stretchers and taken to the Raccoon City Hospital. But then he and several other officers had been called out to the scene of a 'riot' somewhere in the City. When he and his partner, Charley Stokes, a short haired clean shaven man average looking man, arrived at the scene of the riot to aid their fellow officers they were met with a gruesome sight as these creatures swamped over all of them almost every single police officer and began eating them. They both fired shots first into the air as warnings, but when they didn't back off they both fired bullets into the advancing mob. Neither James nor Charley could believe what they were seeing. The bullets clearly entered their bodies but they never registered the impacts, never gave any indication they felt any pain, they just kept coming until they got hold of you and bit you.

They managed to get Charley, James was just scared as he watched his partner disappear under the advancing dead. He ran, he couldn't think of what to do he'd fired round after round into those things and they just kept coming towards him. He just ran and left his partner to die, and he heard his partners screams as they literally tore him apart. That wasn't the end of that nightmare though as he eventually returned to the RPD and with the help of the other officers helped set up a barricade all over the police station. While walking down one of the corridors they'd boarded up hands reached out from the gaps and tried to grab him. Between the boards from what light was left outside he could see Charley his dead partner, standing out here trying to reach in and get him. The mob around him didn't attack him or pay any attention to him even if he was in their way. It was almost as if he'd come back to haunt him for leaving him to die. It really rattled him. Charley's probably still out there right now, wandering the streets, looking for fresh meet.

He wondered briefly about Chief Irons and Marvin, the people they'd left behind, were they even still alive? Or had they joined the ranks of the dead? What about David? That traitor he trusted the one who just left him to be killed by that licker creature. He hated David for what he did. Maybe it was hypocritical of him to think this when he, James had abandoned his own partner to die. But at least James kept on firing bullets at the advancing monsters to get them off Charley, where as David abandoned him while he was still alive and David still had the loaded shot gun for god's sake!

But if David hadn't abandoned him like he did would James ever have discovered what that Mask actually did, what it was capable of? He pondered this for a while. Had the Mask done him a favour giving him those powers? When he wore it he had the powers to do anything, to be anything, and yet with all those powers it never once occurred to him to just leave Raccoon City, to leave the nightmare, but he didn't, and he didn't understand why. If he had been in his right mind while wearing that thing he would've left this place to die, but why didn't he? Sure, okay he was having fun making the zombies and monsters do what he liked, to taunt them and suffer blow after blow and not even get hurt, but in the end he would've wanted to leave. He should've taken that chance while he had it, but then again he didn't know it would stop working so suddenly as it had started. He was certain it only stopped working once the sun came up, it was just as soon as he caught the glare of the rising sun that the thing detached and fell off.

He wanted that mask back, who wouldn't want to? But he wasn't prepared to go out there in the dead of night with a pack of those zombies just to see if it still worked, what if it didn't? Then he'd be zombie chow.

He heard a knock on his door which snapped him from his train of thought, _go away I'm tired_ he thought to himself as he tried to drift away to sleep. But then came the knocking again, and again, this guy whoever he was wasn't going to go away, James thought as he got up from the bed and walked the short distance to the door and opened it up. As soon as he did he came face to face with Jacob, the look on his scrawny face wasn't happy and James noticed he discreetly had a gun in his green jacket pocket pointed at him.

"Don't move a muscle cop!" he said and James slowly lifted his hands up "and put down your god damn hands!" he quietly snapped, James did so.

"I don't like the way you're making eyes at my girl!" he said

"Which girl?" James asked trying to sound as casual as possible.

"You know damn well which one, Elaine Grant, is which girl" What? He wasn't making eyes at her. Okay she was a very attractive woman but he was only interested in how she knew so much about the Mask, at least that's how he felt on the outside.

"Does she know she's your girl?" he found himself asking, she didn't seem to have any form of relationship with Jacob, in fact she looked at him like he was some kind of scumbag which he was. He had no idea why he'd just said that though, it just sort of came out.

"Just know she's mine, and if you come anywhere near her again there'll be an accident involving you and a bullet" James just nodded to show the message was across. Though he'd been training to deal with scum like this he never had much practice of it in the field, probably safe to just play along with his version of reality and let everything continue as it was.

"Good, I can see we're going to get along just fine" he said still with that touch of menace to his voice. "You know, I was wrong maybe you will come in handy if we're ever attacked by 'walkers'" he started to shrink away down the corridor as he finished his sentence "When they're eating you it'll give me a chance to get away."

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

**Authors notes:** All reviews Welcome


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

12:00 noon and the place was quiet, too quiet for David's liking. It was the sort of silence you expected before something pounced. The streets were deserted, lifeless in any sense as David Brown descended the stairs in Derek's Pawn shop and ventured out into the street and into the biting cold of the September air. The street was littered with old news papers being blown in the wind, all printed the day Raccoon City started falling to the dead. September 26th.

The place was also littered with bodies, real dead bodies which looked like they had been mangled and ripped apart from something very heavy running over them. Like a tram, he was near a tramline so it probably was a moving tram.

He walked along the tram line, keeping a close eye for anything that moved that might want to eat him. His mind briefly wandered to the strange sight he saw last night. Though there was all this evidence to support what his eyes and ears saw, when that green faced man made a bunch of zombies dance to Thriller he still couldn't accept it as fact. It was just impossible, there was no way what he saw was accurate, he must've been delirious. The tram running through here, that he could believe because someone could've been using it as transport across town. But he still couldn't believe that green faced goblin of a man he saw last night and what he did.

He had pretty much a sleepless night as he waited for any sign of any type of creature crawling up to get him while he lay in the attic of that pawn shop. He never found James or his body so he assumed he'd been killed and carried away by one of those skinless creatures to its nest to feed its young or something. But he had been vigilant in case his dead corpse was still in the building somewhere and it came to life and tried to munch on him in his sleep. But nothing in the form of James came after him that night so either way it was one less bullet he had to use on a zombie James. With James gone he could move around much better not having to babysit that rookie.

The street was littered with abandoned cars, most of which had been mangled and pushed out of the way when that tram came through last night. David needed a vehicle, he was too exposed out in the open. These walking corpses were easy to deal with one at a time until they gathered up in large numbers then they became a real problem and there were also those other things out there like that skinless creature.

He heard a weak groan of something which just refused to stay dead, he turned around to see one of those corpses, only this one ain't walking, it was crawling. Its complete lower torso and most of his left arm was missing and as it dragged itself along with its only working hand its insides were trailing behind it. It was or used to be male, pale skinned and wore a red shirt. It was moving far too slowly for it to catch up and its groan was much too weak to attract the attention of any others like it.

David didn't want to waste a bullet on this thing, but he just couldn't resist attacking one of the dead in such a vulnerable position. He positioned his shot gun so the butt end was aimed at it and brought it down sharply onto the zombies head, he heard its skull crack as the butt of his gun broke through and mashed its dead brain. Though the thing stopped moving immediately he raised the gun again and brought it down crushing its head even more, he did it again, and again, and again. Kill it, KILL IT!

These stupid things had wrecked his life. He had been content with being a cop, arresting drug abusers, drunken idiots and street thugs, easy pickings. He'd enjoyed his job because it meant he could push these gangs around and if they got out of line all he has to do is both arrest and threaten them by planting drugs on them and claiming they were drug dealers.

Then on 25th of this month, he and his partner, Jack Spencer, had located a local drug dealer, an authentic one not one he threatened to plant drugs on. It looked like the dealer was being attacked by one of his customers, but both David and Jack just waited a few moments for his attacker to inflict enough injuries on that scum before they moved in and separated them. The customer looked really spaced out with his pale skin, marble grey eyes and his drunken movements and it wasn't until he bit down on Jacks arm did they realise this guy was really out of it. David pulled out his gun and warned the man to get down on the ground, but the guy didn't obey, he just kept attacking Jack scratching at his face and trying to take a bite out of his neck. David had fired into the guys torso, the slugs entered his body but the guy didn't stop, didn't even look like he registered the shot, he just kept attacking Jack as another two shots entered his the torso and he had done nothing, was probably wearing armour or something so instead David aimed at the head. This time the attacker did stop and he fell down dead. It wasn't until later that he found out this whacko wasn't wearing any body armour and the slugs had torn straight through the guys torso tearing up his lungs and puncturing his heart.

They reported the incident, arrested the dealer and stuffed him into a squad car. David was going to drop Jack off at the hospital because his wounds were bleeding quite badly but not enough to be serious. That stoned guy must've had flees or something because Jack couldn't stop scratching himself. David didn't know about it then but that was a sign of infection, unbearable scratching and itching. Jack later died in hospital a few days later, when it became apparent what was really going on in this town.

David continued a little ways down the street until he found a vehicle that was actually intact. Its tires were fully pumped up and it looked like it could run. He wasn't a follow of cars but he knew it was a red Ford Hatchback of some sort and was pathetically small, but it would do especially if he had to drive it through narrow spaces. The roads in the city are going to be littered with crashed cars and other vehicles blocking the streets, so a small car was essential.

Its doors were locked, but he could soon fix that. Using the butt of his shot gun he broke the passenger side window and it shattered into a million pieces. He lifted the latch and opened the door, leaned over to the driver's side and undid the latch for the driver's door. He didn't break the drivers side window for two reasons, one he didn't want any dead reaching in to get him while he was moving and two he didn't want to sit on jagged glass while driving this thing.

He shut the passenger door, walked around the car and climbed into the drivers side. He then ripped the housing off the steering wheel, took the two most relevant wires and jammed them together until he heard the engine fire into life. He reached out, took the door and swung it closed. A light thud sounded and the door slowly began to open again. _What the hell?_ Why wasn't it closing? He turned to look at what could be stopping it, he had a suspicion it would be one of the living dead.

Thankfully it wasn't a zombie, it was just the seat belt, the clip was catching between the door and the car stopping it from closing properly. He removed it, plugged it into place securing him in the car and he closed the door. He didn't know if buckling himself in was the best idea but if the car was somehow flipped while racing through the streets he wanted to make sure he survived the roll.

He revved the engine and pulled out and drove away at high speed. Now all he has to do is find an exit. The Ravensgate bridge was the closest to his position so it was his best shot at escape.

* * *

He'd only been here a few hours and so far James had decided the place wasn't as bad as he was expecting. Since changing out of his police uniform into civilian clothes the two gangs now viewed him in a different light, more of an ally then an enemy. It was odd how by simply wearing something it just had an effect on people as if a police uniform was like how a red cape tormented a bull, goading it into attacking.

Carl had sent out a group for scavenge for supplies. A group which James learned had Jacob as one of its members. He wondered if Jacob put up much of a shouting match with Carl demanding not to go, but according to most of the members of the group Jason seemed pretty happy about it.

"Lets him blow off some steam" said Mike, a Red Skull who showed more leniency towards James as a police officer. "He goes out there and cracks a few dead heads skulls"

Mike, professor Marcus and himself were on patrol duty. These patrols apparently went on all day but they switched over every now and again. They had to scout the halls of the building looking for anything dead that moved or any hideous mutation that crawls into their space. For some reason James felt braver then he had before, maybe because he felt safer behind these walls surrounded by people who would help him if he got into trouble. Unlike David, that rat who abandoned him and nearly got him killed.

"Cracking skulls a sport among the ballas is it?" Marcus said dryly.

Mike smiled. "Yeah, 'Red' Skulls"

"Is he the leader of the Green Ballas or something?" James asked "He butts heads often with Carl"

"Yeah" Mike said "It's one of the reason he's blowing off steam. Big Jason, the big daddy of the Green Ballas went down with the rest of his crew when they tried to high tail it across the Ravensgate bridge. The army shot them full of holes and most of Big Jason's crew were wiped out."

They were patrolling the ground floor at the minute and they came to where the staircase would've been had they not been destroyed. It looked like it had been a pretty rushed job, the stairs technically were still there, but someone had gone along it with a chain saw or a fire axe or something and cut away the steps. You could still use them but you'd have to have supreme balancing skills to get up those narrow steps. The walking dead didn't have the balance or the brains necessary to accomplish this, thank god.

"With Big Jason down the next person to take over was a guy called Medium Smoke"

"Medium Smoke?" James laughed "Are you serious?"

"Yeah" Mike smiled as well, it was a stupid name.

"What kind of gang member names himself after something you'd get for $4,50 at Burger King?" Marcus said. The three of them laughed.

"Man, you funny!" Mike said placing a hand on Marcus' shoulder.

"So what happened to the $4,50 Burger King meal?" James asked still smiling, he never thought he'd hear someone making wise cracks in a situation like this.

"Medium smoke got smoked." Mike continued "When we found the Green Ballas in trouble Carl ordered us to save them. Most of our crew thought this was a bad idea but we went ahead and saved them. But Medium Smoke, called so because between Big Jason and Little Jack he was medium"

"We've got a Big, Medium and a Little now?" Marcus said "They sound like a family meal, do you want fries with that?" he added. A low haunting moan came from down below and all three of them drew their weapons, looking for the source of that moan. "Was that a 'yes' do you think?"

James aimed his pistol down into the pit –he called it the pit because there was no better word to describe what it looked like from up here,- a single zombie lumbered into view from an open doorway on the ground floor. Its stiff head turned to regard them and its marble white eyes widened as it spotted lunch. He slowly began shuffling towards them. Though these creatures had little intelligence this one seemed to recognise stairs when it saw them. The infected corpse put one foot on one step, then slowly lifted its other leg onto the same step before raising the first foot onto the next step. It was slow progress but as soon as it got to the fourth step it couldn't get any higher. It took a step forward onto a step that wasn't there anymore and fell through the hole and moaned as he disappeared from view and impacted the floor.

The creature then slowly and clumsily got up again and walked the rest of the way up to the wall below them. It reached up and tried to grab them despite being a good 10 inches below the next floor.

"That'll keep him occupied for a while at least" Marcus commented

"We can't leave him there" Mike said

"Why the hell not?" Marcus asked

"Because when one of those creatures moans loud enough it seems to attract more of them" Mike said "if others find this one trying to get up here the others will get the same idea."

"Fair enough" Marcus shrugged

James pulled out a pistol and pointed it down at the zombie, but he felt a hand on his shoulder before he could pull the trigger.

"Hold on now!" Mike said, "We don't want to attract more of the things here" A gun did make quite a racket when fired, something which probably sounds like a dinner gong to any zombie.

"So how do we kill it?" James asked

Mike went up to the opposite wall where a set of wooden ladders lay across it. But there was more up against the wall then just that, there was a red box bolted to the wall inside it was a fire axe used in case of fire. Mike set down his shot gun and pulled out the fire axe. He weighed it in his hands to get the feel of it before he approached the edge of the stairs and lowered the axe so he could get a mark where it would hit. He raised the axe above his head and brought it down right on top of the dead things head. The axe head cut straight through its skull nearly splitting it in two.

"Talk about the splitting headache" Marcus joked dryly. The zombie stopped moving and when Mike heaved the axe back up towards him it dropped to the ground lifeless and dead.

Mike went back to the box and replaced the axe in the box before retrieving his shot gun. "What were we talking about again?"

"The happy meal gang" Marcus said.

"Yeah, yeah. Well when we went to help the Ballas I notice Big Jason wasn't there, and Medium Smoke was on the floor dead. But I don't think he was bitten." Mike said "At least not at first. When the Green Ballas retreated with us, I noticed a bullet in the back of Medium Smokes head. Now with Medium Smoke out of the way the next person in line to be the Big Daddy is Jacob."

"But when he arrived with his gang his title was over ruled by Carls authority over his stronger gang?" Marcus guessed.

"Aye!" Mike replied "Jacob knew it was too dangerous to go back out there and try to leave the city so the best thing to do was survive here in the city. But with such a small gang they wouldn't last long in this city. We have the best shelter in the city."

"So, Jacob's gone through the chain of command and it's his turn to lead, but Carl's over ruled his leadership because it's his shelter and his gang?" James summed up.

"Aye" Mike nodded

"Man, how annoyed would that make you?" James asked

"I'd go with mighty pissed" Marcus said.

* * *

He'd been driving for an hour around this maze the had city turned into, you turn down one street and its blocked by an over turned ambulance, you turn down another its blocked by a burning bus. You turn down another and find a swam of those walking cadavers, David only saw the zombies as an obstacle and tried to plough straight through them. Once or twice he did this and he found the rest of the street blocked by crashed cars, by the third time he was really starting to get pissed off, it was as if fate was out to get him.

He popped the car into reverse and drove backwards over the walking dead he'd already rand down. He was slower reversing through the undead who were still standing reached in through the damaged passenger side window while others beat on the drivers side unable to break the glass. The zombies reaching into the broken passenger side couldn't reach in far enough and with so many hands reaching inside not a single one of them had enough room to climb inside.

He felt the car buck as its rear left wheel drove over something solid, he heard an audible crushing noise over the moans of the dead as the wheel returned to the tarmac. Finally out of the crowd of the dead he swerved the car so it turned to face the other way then buried his foot in the accelerator to get away from his pursuers. The engine whined in protest as the car rapidly built up speed while in a low gear, when he was far enough away he popped it into a higher gear. He couldn't afford to have his transport break down here and now.

He didn't take the time to look at the street, to see what became of his home, he was too focused on getting out of this alive. If he could only find a route to the Ravensgate bridge then he could escape this hell hole once and for all. But navigating the streets was difficult with so many cars blocking the roads. His course was full of more double backs and wrong turns then a New York cab driver.

He slowly manoeuvred his vehicle around a crashed ambulance that had come off the road and slammed into a lamppost, its lights were still flashing and the doors were wide open and blood was splattered all along its side. The poor bastards must've crashed and bought it when the undead came for them.

As he drove past the ambulance he glanced back into his rear view mirror and saw the doors in the back of the white van were open and a trolley was sticking halfway out. On it was a black body bag which was wriggling with life as the corpse inside returned to life but had no way of undoing the body bag from the inside.

After what felt like hours fortune finally smiled upon him and he arrived at one side of the Ravensgate bridge. The place was littered with corpses, dead ones not walking ones. What the heck happened here? Most of these people didn't look infected at all as if they had been shot while still alive, their skin was still a natural looking colour, not the dull grey or the putrefying brown of the infected. He guessed they must've been killed by one of those savage monsters from the pits of hell but he couldn't think why, if they were killed by monsters were they all riddled with bullet holes. He didn't care though, he was almost home free.

One corpse that was infected and walked wandered into his path, David punched the accelerator and ran it down like the walking trash it was. He was on the bridge at last racing towards the other side, he had almost reached freedom.

It was the same along this bridge, dead bodies that didn't look like they had been infected when they were shot down. There was even a car that looked like it had been shot to pieces and looked like Swiss cheese.

He eased off the gas pedal when he saw barriers up at the opposite end of the bridge, there was what looked like a military blockade. Trucks and Humvees painted a dark green colour blocked his path and there were people there in army uniform with loaded weapons. It must be a safe zone, or a rescue zone he guessed where survivors that came out of this place could recuperate, they'd probably make him go through some sort of decontamination and screening before they let him out.

He glanced back at these bodies littering the floor, they must've been infected but hadn't turned, so they shot them and dumped them out here. Before his brain could tell him how absurd this sounded and think up an alternative explanation for the shot bodies a loud clink caught his attention, the sound of metal on metal and there was also a light spark coming from the edge of the hood of his car. What the heck was that? The sound of a machine gun filled his ears and he immediately hit the breaks on his car. They were shooting at him!

The firing stopped briefly and he was about to shout out the window that he was clean, that he wasn't infected when the windscreen suddenly suffered a single large fracture which spread out like a spiders web from one point, a point that was just about where his head was and he could see in the middle of this web a spent bullet. As soon as he registered this he heard his little car being pelted by bullets again.

Panicking he forced the car into reverse and the tires screeched as he raced away from the blockade all the while his car was catching sparks as bullets entered it on all forward angles. He stopped at the other side of the bridge when he was sure he was safe, opened the door of the car, leaned out and shouted across to them.

"HEY, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? I'M NOT INFECTED, IM CLEAN!" his ears didn't pick up any type of reply, all he picked up was a long drawn out noise then he felt pain as something skim the top of his head and spark off the body of the car leaving a large hole where it impacted, just where his head had been not a second ago. He reached up and clutched where the bullet scraped his head, they were seriously trying to kill him!

He wasted no time in climbing back into his liberated car, put it into gear and reversed the rest of the way off the bridge until he was sure he was out of range of their guns. He then spun the car around and headed back into the city, back into this nightmare.

* * *

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Authors notes:** I'm trying to inject some humour into the non-Mask chapters with Marcus so the story isn't all just doom and gloom when the Mask isn't being worn.

All reviews are welcome


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**September 28th**

**5:00pm**

There's a working clock in my new apartment that I've been calling him since this morning so I know what time it is. I finished my 'duty to the group' by patrolling the ground floor of the building with Marcus and Mike so I'm planning to catch some sleep soon.

While talking to Mike I've learned why Jacob is such a little prick, the big boss of the Green Ballas died during an escape attempt leaving Jacob in charge, but fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view, they were ambushed by zombies but saved by Carl and brought into the Red Skull hideout, but because Carl is in charge here, the leader of the Red Skulls it meant Jacobs authority was overruled.

I heard Jacob was sent out with a group to look for food and supplies this morning, but it's been nearly four hours since they left and they haven't returned. According to Mike it should take no longer than 3 hours to get to a local supermarket, loot what the need and make it back here. By the look of who's missing from the hideout I'd say only two Ballas went in the scavenging party, Jacob included. If he doesn't come back then I say it's one little prink less for the world to deal with.

Janine, the woman who does the cooking, again cooked a very slimy vegetable soup for dinner, not five star but its defiantly better then starving to death. The way she cooks for everyone though gives me the impression she may have been a mother once, I say once because in the current situation… Well that was my genuine idea, I don't know if it's true or not. She doesn't talk much as I've said, she just gets on with her 'work' or what she's taken on board as her work. I'm no psychologist but I've seen stuff like this happen in the movies, when something terrible happens to someone and they just sort of seal themselves off in their own heads and go through these little tasks so they don't have to face the nightmare in front of their eyes. That's only how it looks to me, I don't know what the others think.

Marcus, a professor teaching at Raccoon University –he didn't say what his doctorate was in, because in the current situation he didn't think it was relevant- related his story but only a little. He was one of those people desperately trying to escape the city in a car, but got caught in the traffic jam, this was before it got really bad. I thought university lecturers were supposed to be smart? Didn't he think the roads would be packed full of people trying to get out? Either way he abandoned his vehicle when he saw the walking corpses coming in his rear view mirror, and so did everyone else in cars I'd imagine. But Marcus escaped and made a run for it with everyone else. He had been much more graphic when he explained what happened to me, but I've got the sense he wasn't telling me something because if he never got close to any of those zombie creatures why is his suit stained with so much blood?

I wasn't exactly very truthful with my version of events either. I kept the bare bones of what happened but I left out certain apparent magical artefacts which aided me in my fight for survival. I really don't need any of these people thinking I'm totally insane.

Going to catch some sleep now, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.

**From the Diary of James Denning**

* * *

KA-boom!

James's eyes snapped open at the sound of an explosion in the distance, it wasn't very loud but with him so edgy at this time of night the simple creaking of the floorboards outside would wake him up. He looked at a clock at his bed side, 8:30pm? He's never going to get any sleep at this rate. Though he wasn't used to going to sleep so early, but the feeling of jet lag from what he did the previous night really caught up with you very fast.

He got up out of bed, he at least wanted to see what caused that explosion. He had slept in his jeans and T shirt in case of emergencies if he had to get up really quick. He doubted if that explosion was anything that would threaten the people here it sounded like it was miles away, but he walked over to a window in the corner.

He heard the distant moan of a zombie somewhere off in the distance that had probably spotted prey and was no doubt slowly chasing after it.

In the distance about a mile away black smoke was drifting up from an ominous yellow and orange glow. The unmistakable trademark glow of fire as something burned all the way over there though James struggled to think what in that area could've combusted like that, a car? No, the bang was much too big, maybe a broken gas main or something like that. Whatever it was it looked like it was coming from somewhere close to the RPD, where he had been only 24 hours ago.

He sighed, he was never going to get any more sleep tonight just yet, so he grabbed the leather jacket he'd claimed from the closet and left his apartment. He didn't lock the door because he didn't have a key and anyway what would be the point? What did he have that anyone would want to steal, unless someone wanted extra pillows and blankets or a TV that couldn't pick anything up. He'd tried to see what was on, but all he managed to get was static on almost every channel, he almost got something on channel 4 but the picture was such poor quality he couldn't make out what it was or what they were saying, so he gave up.

He noticed mostly everyone else was up and awake, most here didn't even bothering closing their doors to their apartment, in one room he saw a small group of gang members playing dominoes around a small coffee table while in another room others were playing cards. Marcus was wide awake in his apartment fiddling with a radio set trying to pick up some sort of signal but was only getting static for his troubles. He probably did this away from everyone else because hearing the hiss of static all the time was annoying and only served to remind everyone that the world outside didn't exist anymore.

Marcus did put down the radio eventually and gave up on it all together and walked up to a window and stood there by himself and looked down at the streets below. Marcus had always been full of deadpan and graveyard humour and now he just seemed stressed, and his fingers kept fidgeting.

James saw the red head Elaine talking to Janine but it seemed more of a one sided conversation as Janine just remained silent for most of it. Not wanting to pry into private matters he walked on. What was he doing up? What could he do? He sighed and decided to return to his room.

On his way back he saw Marcus leave his apartment and look left and right. James side stepped out of the way towards the stairs so he didn't see him. James tilted his head to see why Marcus was being so secretive. Marcus had begun sneaking towards a second flight of stairs, one which went directly to the roof and began climbing them. Curious James followed trying to keep his footfalls as quiet as possible and following at a safe distance as Marcus ascended the stairs. Marcus exited through the roof door, what was he going to do up there? Jump? Had all his deadpan humour just been a cover for someone going through some sort of break down?

James quickly ascended the stairs and opened the door to the roof to stop him jumping. But Marcus was just standing still holding something close to his mouth. He turned quickly towards him at the sound of him wrenching the doors open. In his mouth was an unlit cigarette and in his hands a lighter, the flame lighting the end of his cigarette. The look on Marcus's face was as if James had just caught him committing a murder or something. James breathed a sigh, Marcus wasn't going to jump, he'd just sneaked away to have a smoke.

"I thought you were going to jump" James said as Marcus lit up.

"Jump? Nah, bad for your health" he said blowing out a trail of smoke.

"and smoking isn't?"

Marcus turned to the edge of the building and blew out a lung full of smoke. "Want one?" he asked offering James one from a packet. James assumed the reason Marcus sneaked off was in case someone else wanted his cigarettes. James was aware how maddening smoking can make you when you're deprived of it, his brother used to smoke and would get incredibly irritable and violent if he didn't get his 'five a day' as he'd called them.

"No thanks , I don't smoke" James said, declining the cigarette offer.

"Smart, once you've started its difficult to stop" he said putting the pack away into his jacket pocket and taking another lung full of smoke in his lungs before blowing it back out again. It was a cold September night, it would've been a silent night if it didn't have the gentle howl of the wind above and the grunting and moaning of the undead below them. Marcus looked down into the streets below, at the walking dead. "You know, all those things down there, I've been wondering about them, what are they?"

"They're dead, isn't that what they are?" James asked joining Marcus at the edge of the roof.

"Sure, they're dead in all senses, they have no heart beat or blood flow but they 'are' life on some level" he took another deep lung full of smoke and blew it out again. "All a body essentially needs to remain active and mobile is electrical impulses governed by the brain, which is why they die when you shoot them in the head. But somehow they operate independent of the other mechanisms required for life, they don't seem to have the need to digest their food. I've seen zombies with stomachs ripped open and the food they eat just falls straight through, plops straight out and they eat it all over again."

"Too much information there, Marcus" James said as Marcus continued his academic ramblings.

"They only seem to need the brain, and not much of that." He looked down into the undead horde, there were very few of them now, just wandering aimlessly. "They seem to operate on a lower instinct, their brains must be seriously decayed if their motor functions are so limited, and with the speech centres shut down along with everything else, it probably conserves a lot of energy. Energy it uses to keep themselves active."

"Is this going somewhere?" James asked as he saw all those walking dead out in the streets, shuffling along with no clue of where to go or what they are doing.

"What these creatures are..." The tone in his voice lowered to show this wasn't his deadpan humour "They're 'us', plain and simple. A version of us just operating on a much, much more primitive level"

James wasn't really listening anymore. He sighed but then something caught his attention, a slight green glow the sort of glow you would never see unless you were looking for it. James knew what that glow was. The Mask, it must be active again, and it just lay there in the middle of the street where he dropped it and the dead just shuffled around it, not paying attention or giving the odd object a single glance.

"This sickness that turns us into them" Marcus went on, but James wasn't picturing zombies in his head, he was picturing that green painted wooden mask. "It destroys the part of our brains we need to function as humans, the higher consciousness for example" James couldn't help but stare at where that wooden mask was. He had acted very oddly while he was wearing it, as if he wasn't himself, while wearing it he felt as if nothing could hold him back, as if it released something, something… "the zombie is inside each of us" …_inside me _"the sickness shoves what makes us 'us' aside and lets it die. Like a sculptor chipping at a block of stone until he makes a statue. Philosophically speaking the statue is already there in the stone block, but the sculptor cuts away at it, and remove the rest of the stone and there it is, a statue. That's what the zombie sickness seems to do. It lets basic instinct take the driver's seat, they are just motorized instinct." For some reason that metaphor Marcus chose echoed his thoughts on the Mask, when you wear it.

"That doesn't explain 'why' they are" said another voice which snapped James out of his thought trail. It was Mike who'd just come up the stairs to join this little gathering.

"I honestly have no clue why they are here" Marcus said finishing his cigarette and flicked the butt over the side before he turned to talk to him "but it spreads like a virus or an infection, maybe it is a virus of some sort."

"Aye, maybe it is, but maybe it's more then you're giving it credit" Mike said

"What do you mean?" Marcus asked.

"Look at what we've been doing over the past few hundred years" Mike said as he joined the other two at the roof edge. "We've been forgetting about the lord."

There was an awkward pause for a moment which was only broken when Marcus said.

"Okay Mike, I'll ask again... What are you talking about?"

"We've been replacing him with machines and tools and idols, do we really need a god anymore?" What was Mike talking about? James never guessed Mike to be the religious sort. Wait, what was that noise?

"I'll try again, Mike" Marcus then said slowly "What... the fuck... are you talking about?" That noise, a whirl of blades, what was that, a helicopter?

"I'm saying that maybe the lord is tired of us, ruining this world he created for us, trying to work out his creation and then use it to kill each other. He wants to show, no matter how much we may say and think we're grown up, he wanted to show 'he' is still top dog. So he sends a plague, a new flood to cleanse the world. What if this is just the end of days, the beginning of judgment day?"

After hearing Mike's explanation they stood still for a moment as if letting this sink in. James was sure he could faintly hear a helicopter somewhere in the distance. This awkward silence in their conversation was then broken by Marcus.

"Mike" Marcus said snorting "You are 'so' full of shit"

Ka-boom, and a small spot far away lit up in an explosion which echoed around the area, it wasn't as loud as the last one and James knew that the noise came from somewhere close to the RPD, what the heck was going on over there?

"Sounds like someone's having fun" Marcus said.

"Can you hear that?" James said holding up his hand for silence, he could hear a helicopter, it sounded like a helicopter but this one sounded different from the last one he heard a few seconds ago. The sound of the blades, he didn't know how to describe it, they were just different in pitch as if they cut the air more, or something like that. He could see it! Just around where the RPD was, a large, grey, helicopter. It looked like it carried something on a short tether, a box of some sort.

"Do we have a flare gun or anything?" Marcus asked

Something dropped from the helicopter's little box, something that was a shade of orange, it looked like it burst apart before whatever was inside slammed into the RPD area. The helicopter then began moving off. Where the heck was it going? What was it doing? James lost sight of it for a few minutes and detested the thought that it was just going and leaving them here, but it soon started coming back and looked like it was heading this way. What was it dropping, food, supplies?

It was coming their way and all three of them stood up and waved their arms at the approaching helicopter. It was carrying what looked like the skeleton of a large metal crate. Inside which was just one large cylinder at the back though this cradle looked like it could handle six but five of those six must've already been dropped.

The growing noise of the helicopter had started to draw quite a crowd from the floors below. Many of the gang were climbing the stairs to see if a helicopter was coming. They all waved and shouted at the helicopter to get its attention so it would land and take them out of this place. A search light in its nose flicked on and illuminated them as they all whistled and fired weapons into the air to try to attract the helicopters attention. It was directly above their hideout now but it didn't look like it was going to land.

It looked like something had blown on the side of the cage and a cylinder dropped from the cradle, it raced down towards them and it was going to crush them! Those who were close to the impact site managed to jump out of the way as the orange cylinder shattered into pieces just before impact revealing something dark inside. Whatever it was it broken through the roof leaving a large hole going down, he didn't know how many floors, before it stopped.

The helicopter was going, it can't be going! Several of the group fired guns into the air and shouted at it to come back, but it didn't. It disappeared into the darkness with its empty cradle and the whirl of its propeller blades slowly became quieter until it could barely be heard. It'd gone.

Screams came from the floors below followed by the sound of something very heavy smashing into bricks and mesentery. Alerted that a monster or zombies have broken into the building everyone on the roof quickly filed down the narrow stairway down to the sound of gun shots being fired.

They descended down to the second floor, dust was still in the air after it had been kicked up from the thing that had broken the ceiling down, a couple of flashes could briefly be seen in the dust as someone in that mist fired off a couple of rounds from a hand pistol. Then what sounded a swooping impact was heard and a red hooded figure fell backwards through the mist and impacted the group pushing those in front to the ground. James and a few others who were at the back of this collection, stepped back as those in front fell, they tried to get to their feet as quickly as possible and held up their weapons ready for whatever it was in that mist.

Heavy foot falls could be heard as Mike, Marcus several others and himself fired blindly into the mist hoping to hit it, and by the sound of those footsteps it sounded big, and it was. From the mist came a massive figure around 9 feet tall, he was pale in completion and looked muscular though most of his body was hidden by a long black trench coat. His head looked small in comparison to his body which looked very powerful and very frightening. His face had a vacant neutral expression on it as it thudded towards them.

Shots rang out and entered this titan but the thing didn't even register the shots at all, as if it was a zombie, only it wasn't a zombie it was like one of those monsters but more human looking. It was like that one James met the previous night while wearing the Mask, the more ugly mutated looking one he'd nicknamed Hightower.

The group began retreating away from this massive monster as it raised both its arms over its head and brought them down on top of one of the gang who had been foolish enough to get in its way. The cracking of every bone in the guy's body made a shiver run up James' spine.

Click, click, click went his pistol, he was out and he didn't have any spare bullets on him but thankfully Mike pushed an extra clip into his hand and James quickly tried to reload. The titan reached down towards the wall and wrenched a heat radiator from the wall and lifted it above his head as if it was made of paper, and threw it at them!

Everyone dived for cover, but James just wasn't quick enough as he tried to reload his weapon. The radiator caught him square in the stomach and he dropped his weapon. The force of it pushed him through a window at the end of the hall and he shattered the glass, small shards cut into his skin and face as he started falling, his feet caught the edge of the window sending him into a half roll as he fell outside down the side of the wall.

Being two stories up he'd be dead as soon as he hit the ground had it not been for some awning which was erected just below where he was. The soft material nearly catapulted him off and into the street where dozens of hungry zombies had caught sight of what was going on here, and were all fast shuffling towards him. Maybe it would've been better if he just hit the ground face first, ended it quickly.

James grabbed the edge of the awning to stop himself falling the rest of the way, his legs dangled as just below him as pale fingers reached up to grab his feet and pull him down towards their snapping teeth.

* * *

The little red Ford screeched past several crashed vehicles and just managed to clear the narrow space between them. David had tried to find a path through the city to one of the other roads leading out of the city, but it was just as difficult, next to impossible to reach those exit roads by car and even if he reached them there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be an army patrol or blockade ready to shoot him down on sight.

It became apparent to him that the army were sealing whatever survivors there were inside the city, if they tried to get out by any other means they shoot them and throw their bodies back. Back in the RPD police officers held up there all had a vague hope that someone would come, the army or something, but now David doubted if any such help was coming, or if it was it would involve the extermination of everything in the city, dead or alive.

He understood why they were doing it, preventing the spread of this zombie disease from going beyond the city. That was why they tried to kill him back there, but though he understood it he didn't have to lie down and accept his fate just because some guy in a suit somewhere decides he has to die just to be on the safe side. The zombie virus can spill out for all he cared, but he wasn't going to die here in Raccoon City as the result of a stray bullet fired by army bastards who are just following orders, nor did he want to die from being bitten and turning into one of those things, nor did he want to be killed by a monster, in other words, he was not going to die here and nothing better be unfortunate to get in his way, or he'll make it pay.

As he came up to a crossing in the road which was surprisingly clear he saw a police car race past at high speed, but he didn't follow because he had to slam his breaks on when a large truck carrying a tanker of gas also went racing past. Whoever was behind the wheel of that rig looked drunk because the cab was swerving from side to side. He decided not to follow either the police car or the truck because not long after he saw them both race past he heard a massive explosion which could probably be heard for miles around. He of course put two and two together and decided that tanker must've exploded.

While he was stationary there at the crossing he took the time to look around to get his bearings, he wasn't far from the RPD where he'd started from! Oh for god sake he was going in circles now! Someone up there can't like him much.

Annoyed, he drove on and eventually came across J's Bar, he hadn't eaten since this morning when he left the pawn shop to jack this car. He'd taken some supplies just in case but he never had the chance to eat them while trying to find a way out of this nightmarish hell hole. Another loud back caught his attention and he heard, this was just as distant but through it his ears caught something else, it sounded like… helicopter rotor blades! Maybe there was a way to get out of this mess alive.

He changed direction to follow the sound of those whirling blades. He had to alter his course every time he turned down a street that was blocked by abandoned cars. The helicopter seemed to be taking an irregular path around the city and every now and then he heard loud bangs as if the chopper was dropping something, something heavy.

There it was! He saw it, just above him, a military style helicopter carrying a metal cradle of some sort. It was heading in the opposite direction he'd just come from. David swung the car around and headed back after it. He passed J's Bar again and turn a corner and sped down the road, if that chopper landed he wanted to be sure he got on it. Okay he couldn't fly it himself but maybe he could 'persuade' the pilot to take him away. He'd have to kill the pilot obviously after he dropped him off because he didn't want him reporting in and have the army on his tail trying to track him down. Though this plan sounded like utter lunacy to him he didn't care, if it was a way out he was going to try for it. The helicopter dropped something into a building in the distance started to fly away faster than he could keep up with it. What the heck was it doing? He'd just spent all that time chasing it and it was flying away!

There was a large group of those walking dead heads in front of him and decided to release his frustration on the walking bastards. He punched the accelerator and ploughed into them, running them down. Most were dragged under his wheels but one or two rolled over the top of the car leaving dents in the hood and roof. Die you stupid fucks! Die!

Suddenly the car gave a massive jerk to one side and he heard a large amount of screeching from the passenger side tire. Sparks were starting to shoot out of it as David lost control of the car, it swerved from left to right and he spun the wheel and fought for control over his stolen vehicle. He hit something that was much more solid and fixed to the ground sending him into a spin running over several undead in a tight group who looked like they were reaching up to some dumb idiot hanging from an awning above them. His car swung around as he regained control, the sparks stopped and he heard something rattle under his wheel before whatever it was stopped, and he was moving again.

But then the engine suddenly and unexpectedly died, no! NO! NOT NOW! It rolled a little until coming to a gentle stop. There were still a lot of zombies in this street, he had to get this hunk of junk rolling again or he was dead and with the passenger side window smashed one was bound to get in. He tried the engine, it coughed and choked but it refused to return to life.

* * *

James couldn't hold on much longer, any minute his fingers were going to slide him just too far down the awning and the reaching dead would pull him down. That was until he heard a screeching sound which drew his attention away for a second.

A small red car was coming down the street and looked like it was losing control as it swerved from one side of the road to the other sparks erupting from its right wheel. One swerve sent it hurtling in his direction and it ploughed into the walking dead below him. The car impacted something as whoever was behind the wheel punched the breaks, this caused it to spin around three of four times before coming to a rest some 50 feet away.

James couldn't hold on any longer, his grip faltered and he fell to the ground. As his legs hit solid concrete and he screamed in pain, he'd been too high up and his legs couldn't take the strain of impact. He fell onto his stomach, surrounded by the undead –that thanks to that carless driver had recently been made 're-dead'- But that didn't stop the others in the street that were still standing and walking spotting a potential meal and start shuffling towards him. He was in deep crap here.

He tried to stand, to run or find a way of getting back inside. He heard the sound of gun fire in the hideout, they were probably being slaughtered by that giant! But he couldn't do anything because his legs were in too much pain and he just fell flat on his stomach again. He reached for his gun in his pocket, but it was gone! He must've dropped it in the fall.

The groans and moans reminded him that those in the hideout weren't the only ones in mortal peril. His thoughts went through several escape plans, each one just as unreasonable because they all involved him running which he wasn't capable of. But then his thoughts went straight to the Mask, it was still out here somewhere. If it wasn't some sort of delusional dream he had last night he could use it.

_Hello! Reality check, it's too far away, you'd never crawl towards it and put it on before a zombie munched at half your face._ Who's side was his mind on! But then he caught sight of a faint green glow, just across the road, not 30 meters away. It was here, the Mask was nearer then he thought and it was only in the middle of the road! That car must've got it caught in its wheel causing it to skid, that's what must've brought it closer. Either way it was a way out of this situation.

He started inching closer towards it using his arms to drag himself along. The moans and groans of the dead encouraging him to move faster and faster, closer and closer to the magic artifact as the zombies moved closer and closer. James reached out to grab it, but the tip of his fingers only scraped the chin of the wooden mask, one further heavy and he reached out and this time he scooped it up, the cold craggy wood a welcome feeling in his hands. He flipped it over so he was looking into the back of it. Could it still work after being run over like that? It didn't look like it was damaged. The groans around him were like alarm bells telling him to stop being so pessimistic and find out if it did work.

As if to show him it was real, that it was working and the power it provided was authentic, the inside of the Mask lit up in a brief green glow.

_Happy now? Now just put the damn thing on!_ His mind screamed at him. He hesitated though, should he put it on? Elaine said it was dangerous, that it could destroy him, that…

With all these thoughts running through his head he failed to notice that one of the recently made dead was in fact still 'undead' and one that was right next to him. He felt a sharp pain in his arm as a zombie woman grabbed and bit down into the sleeve of his leather jacket. He felt pain run through his entire left arm as the pressure increased and he screamed in pain. In a panic he made up his mind and rammed the Mask onto his face before the zombie woman could draw blood. He felt it take effect almost immediately. Its felt warm as it hit his face and its shape and form began warping and moulding its shape around his features as it covered and buried his entire head and hair in whatever the thing was made of.

The familiar energy returned very rapidly with a warm feeling of someone welcoming him home. He felt the two sides of the Mask join together at the back of his head, completely encasing him. He arched his back as if the thing was trying to force him to his feet, then he felt a whirl wind surround his body as he begin to rotate incredibly fast on the heels of his shoes. His entire body became ridged as this mysterious power forced him into this rotation and he had the unpleasant sensation of being electrocuted, but couldn't do anything about it.

Anyone watching would've seen James' body disappear into a whirl of colour and smoke. The zombie that was latched onto his arm also fell into this whirl of a mini tornado which began moving around the street rapidly of its own accord knocked countless numbers of walking dead over as it carved a random path through them.

His transformation complete James felt himself come to a rapid stop. He could feel the fimilar rubber, green mask on his face and... he was standing! The Mask had made his legs all better again! He also noticed that his clothes had altered back into the red, comfortable suit he was wearing when the Mask stopped working the last time, and that feeling of intense confidence he had the last time this power flooded through his body had also returned in full force.

He was holding the zombie woman, who got caught up in the transformation, in one arm as if she was a lover or a dance partner, a dance partner who was trying to bite his neck off. While in his other hand he held in the air a pair of rotten teeth which he held up like a castanet. He noticed these teeth must belong to this zombie woman in his arms because her mouth was full of nothing but gums.

"Remember" came that unearthly voice the Mask made him capable of "Human meat his very tasty but its incredibly bad for your teeth!" he clattered the rotten teeth together and they produced a sound like a castanet. The zombie woman kept trying to pull him towards her mouth as her gums snapped together. "Now you're very sweet, darling. But seriously, your breath is enough to wake the dead!" he grinned showing his baseball card sized teeth "oh right, sorry!" he laughed.

James tossed the rotting zombie teeth over his shoulder and heard them smack into the face of another walking cadaver that groaned slightly in protest. James then sent the zombie woman on his arm into a rapid spin and gave her a good kick out of the way to impact and knock over another zombie coming towards him. Unconcerned about the countless undead around him he then dusted his hands off before dusting himself down before he coolly turned to look at the mass of zombies now advancing towards him, he grinned almost evilly.

"News just in…" his voice took on the form of a movie announcer "the incredible duo, James Denning and the Mask have just announced…" he flung his arms out as if to announce this to a crowd of fans "...THEIR NEW WORLD TOUR!"

* * *

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

**Authors notes:** I was determined to get James back in the Mask before Christmas, and I have just managed it :)

All reviews are welcome.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The engine choked and coughed but refused to start! David retrieved the two wires he'd used to jump start the car before and touched them together but the car just choked and coughed. _Come on! Come on! Come on you midget car, start!_ He cursed as he heard light slaps from the rear window of the hatchback indicating that the living dead had reached him, and at any minute they'd realise that the passenger side window was smashed and they could get in.

He was on the verge of abandoning the car to let the dead reclaim it again when his persistence was rewarded with the choking sound of life from the dead car. _Yes, yes, yes!_ He was about to hit the accelerator and speed away when he spotted someone, a familiar someone, someone in a bright red suit and a big green Mask. The man who he saw last night dancing with zombies to Thriller, the one who he thought was just an hallucination, the same one who looked similar to that murderer who was shot dead weeks previously.

The masked man swung a very large and very heavy bat around his head and was smashing it into the dead's head's, with each impact was the unmistakable sound of a skull cracking and several of the dead dropped from the injuries the man inflicted. The green faced man seemed to rapidly get bored with this method of attack and so held up his baseball bat and... and... the bat burst into flames. The wood burned away in a matter of seconds revealing, with a snap like hiss, a long shaft of green light? David wondered for a moment if he hit his head in the crash, was he hallucinating or was this masked man holding a green lightsabre?

The guy swung his lance of light around and it cut through the dead like a knife through butter. Heads dropped everywhere as he decapitated zombies as easily as trimming a hedge with a chain saw.

He then spun on his heels to look directly at Davids red car, which had zombies simply walking past it, ignoring David walked towards the green faced man, since he was holding a giant bug zapper and attracted the dead just as easily. To them it was like a big neon sign saying, 'dinnertime'.

Suddenly the man grinned. David was sure he was hallucinating now, because the man's jaws were full of baseball card sized teeth, and... his eyes were the size of a baseballs!... and... he could just make out his small hooked nose which was tiny in proportion to his eyes and teeth.

Suddenly those baseball sized eyes turned and looked at him, right at him with a look of recognition, then in the most unearthly voice he'd ever heard the man said.

"HEY, I KNOW YOU!"

David wasn't going to waste any more time in his getaway. He pushed his foot on the accelerator and the tyres of his small car screeched before he shot forward directly towards the masked man with the intent on running him down. He was in the way and...

David was completely, one hundred percent convinced he was hallucinating now, because as he sped towards green face he screamed an ear splitting scream and his eyes grew so cartoonishly large that the entire windscreen was full of nothing but the whites of these giant eyes as David ran him over.

The eyes vanished below the windscreen and he felt the freak being pulled under the wheels as he sped off away from the undead horde. David breathed a sigh of relief, while he felt his head for any injuries causing these hallucinations. The last thing he needed was to be seeing things while running through a zombie, monster infested city.

Tap, tap, tap, tap. Huh, what was that? Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap. That sounded like pebbles were lightly impacting his car window. Tap, tap, tap, but the noise was too regular and occurring in the same place each time, on the surface of the driver's side window. He turned and looked at what was causing it, they were fingers, fingers? Human fingers were lightly tapping on the glass of the driver's side door, but he was going 50mph! He looked out the window, all he could see was a hand tapping on the window, the rest of this person was shadowed in the darkness outside, he tried to make out what this was and was considering slamming on the breaks when, out of the darkness came the big green head of that guy he just ran over._ Fuck! He's still alive?_

The masked man pushed his face flat against the window with a growing look of pure and utter, murderous, psychotic hatred in his eyes.

"Do you know how fast you're going?" his entire face was pressed flat against the glass as if it was just a great big balloon.

"Who the hell are you?" he screamed at the window.

"I'll give you three guesses! WRONG, WRONG and WRONG!" he said in quick succession "AAAHGGG! I'm sorry the correct answer to 'who the hell am I' is..." he said mimicking the stupid voice game show hosts usually utter, he then pressed his face flat against the window again with a psychotic gleam in his eyes "...'the last thing David Brown saw before he got a knife stuck through his neck!'"

Without warning the green faced maniac smashed the glass on the driver's side with his bare, clenched hand. David shut his eyes momentarily to stop any shards of glass raining into his eyes and blinding him. When he opened them again he saw the masked man grabbing him by the collar with the intent of dragging him out of the car.

David's seatbelt prevented the guy from pulling him from his vehicle but he still seemed to have a very powerful grip as he tried to rip him from the driving seat. In a panic David swung the car to the left hoping to unbalance whatever this guy was driving –must be a motorbike of some sort- but David went further than that and pushed him so far towards the curb the freak smacked into a stationary lamppost, an impact that would've forced him to let go of his collar and disappear into the night. But as the car drove on, the maniac had vanished but his hand still held tight to his collar, the car drove between 50 and 100 yards before the mans hand actually let go and snapped out of the car window like a rubber band under tension.

David looked in his rear view mirror to see if that freak had his head had cracked open, but the street he was travelling along was so dark he couldn't see anything.

He must be going out of his mind, he took a deep breath and tried not to think of what he had just seen, it obviously wasn't real and the more he thought about it he had the feeling the more he'd be convinced it was real because it just looked so real. _It wasn't real_ he told himself, maybe this car was full of hidden drugs, yeah that's it, and during the assault from the army on the Ravensgate bridge had ripped open the hidden packages in the cars body and he's been breathing in the hallucinogenic. He told himself this though a part of his mind was doubting it, either way he still had the sanity to know it wasn't real and at least the hallucinations appeared to have gone now.

CHUNK! Came a loud noise, what the heck was that? It was the sound of metal impacting metal? Did he hit something? He thought as the noise echoed around inside the car.

CHUNK! It came again and something came to a stop very close to his right ear, he slowly turned half keeping his eyes on the road and saw what looked like a very long and sharp blade sticking through the roof of his car. Suddenly it was pulled clear, leaving a long gash in the roof, then CHUCK! The blade came back again going even deeper and cutting an even longer gash into the car's roof! It looked like the blade of a very large and very sharp axe.

"IIIIIII'VE BEEN WORKIN' ON DE RAIL ROAD!..." sang a very unearthly voice which sent a shiver down his spine as the sharp blade was pulled out and was slammed back down again going even deeper into the car and cutting into the right shoulder of his uniform, "...AAAAALL DE LIVE LONG DAAAYYYYY!"

"HOLY HELL!" David screamed as he spun the wheel one way and then the other in an attempt to shake the thing off his roof. He caught minor reflections in show windows along the street and could see the form of a man, standing on the roof of his car raising a very large axe and prepared to swing it down towards him again.

CHUNK, KESHK! The blade came back and cut into the car, but because David was swinging the car from side to side the blade didn't re-enter the same cut in the roof. But it did cause a big dent in the roof just left of the larger gash, nearer his head and this had caused the windscreen to fracture to the point where he could barely see out of it.

In a panic he slammed on the breaks and the car ground to a stop. He waited for a moment for that thing on his roof to fly forwards and smack into the road before he'd speed up and run it down again. His heart jumped into his throat when cold, grey hands reached in, grabbed him and tried to pull him towards a biting rotting mouth of another infected.

"Hey, get in line!" said that voice again as a large and heavy wooden mallet slammed into the undeads head, killing it instantly "I'm at the head of the kill David Brown line!"

David reached for his shot gun from the passenger side door when he felt something smack into him really hard in the face. An impact which forced him across the car and into the passenger seat to sit on top of the shot gun, which inadvertently went off shooting a hole in the floor of the Ford.

What smacked into him appeared to be a pair of black shoes worn by someone who had jumped off the roof and snaked into the driving seat. David almost panicked, it was that green headed maniac! How can he still be alive?

"A Ford" he said referring to the car make "four wheels and a board, guaranteed to go if you push it!" he grinned showing those enormous purely white teeth.

David tried to reach for his shot gun and pump this guy full of lead, but he had a problem getting his hands on it since he was sitting on it.

"Now then!" the masked man said turning to look at him "Let me show you how it's done!" He took the wheel in his hands and the car jumped back to life almost automatically. "Fasten your seat belt Mr. Brown, because your underpants are about to turn the same colour!"

The maniac raised his foot so the knee was up to his chin and then slammed it down on the accelerator and the car literally shot forward. David wasn't prepared for the speed this guy managed to get out of such a small car and was being forced into the passenger seat, he was being pushed so hard into the seat it felt like the shot gun he was sitting on he felt like it was going to enter him. It felt like someone was grabbing his cheeks and pulling on them from behind causing his lips to be forced back from his own teeth.

But the comfort of his body was the last thing on his mind as he looked out the front windscreen. Everything outside was whooshing past at such a speed it was all a blur! If they crashed at this speed there would be no doubt he'd die. He felt the car turn, and turn so quickly he smacked his head into the edge of the passenger door and still the car didn't slow down, it was actually speeding up.

"Four hundred degrees that's why they call my Mr. Fahrenheit!..." the maniac sang as he sped through the city, turning sharply into another street sharply without slowing down or flipping the car. "...I'm travelling at the speed of liiiight! I wanna make a supersonic man out of youuuuuu! DON'T STOP ME NOW! I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball!..."

David saw a walking undead in the middle of the road just nanoseconds before they ran straight into it. The front windscreen suddenly shattered from all the cracks it had already sustained as something the size and shape of a ball flew through it and landed in his lap. David closed his eyes as the entire interior of the car was showered by glass shards though luckily none were so sharp to cause much damage besides a few cuts. He could feel that the car wasn't slowing down and could feel not just the pressure pushing him into the car seat but the wind as the car continued speeding. He opened his eyes, this was impossible, how can a stupid little wreck like this be going so fast? He could barely get it up to 50mph with the pedal to the metal.

Davids lap felt very wet and as he looked down he realised it was because of the ball like object that had broken the windscreen and now lay in his lap. His eyes widened. It was an undead's head, female, leather skinned, white eyed, with dirty, thinning blond hair and milk white eyes which stared up right at him as if it could still sense him, the left eye was twitching at him rapidly.

"Hey, I think she's giving you the eye!" the maniac laughed.

He wanted to lift his hands up and throw it out the window but he couldn't lift his arms from where the sheer speed of the vehicle was forcing them into the chair.

He tried to reach for his pistol in his holster, he couldn't shoot him now since they are going so fast but he could make him stop the car, then he could shoot him, remove the body and drive on. But the pressure was still too much.

"St- St- Stop" he struggled to say as he saw the green headed maniac, who didn't appear to be affected by this intense speed at all, lean forward with his tiny hooked nose resting almost on the steering wheel while his baseball sized eyes watched the roads ahead.

"DON'T STOP ME NOW!" he sang again "COS I'M HAVING A GOOD TIME, DON'T STOP ME... Ah, wait just a minute, here's where you get off." He said as he slammed his foot on the break.

David felt himself being flung forward as the car came to a rapid stop. He was thrown out of the car through the windscreen and landed a short way away, he thought he'd be flung much further but somehow most of his forward momentum seemed to have been lost in the deceleration despite not wearing a seatbelt. He felt his shoulder crack as he landed and he yelped in pain for a brief second, but silenced it immediately because it would draw the infected towards him.

"Hey, I guess moma was right to make us wear safety belts"

He didn't know who this masked maniac was, but he'd exited the car and was walking towards him as calmly as if he was on a relaxing stroll. Those freakishly large eyes and those large grinning teeth gave him the impression of when a child torments a dog, or a cat and think it's amusing.

David tried to move but a wince of pain made him stop, his shoulder must be dislocated or something because he could hardly move it without a jolt of pain. He was however able to get to his feet and as he dragged himself up to his full height, then he saw it, the shot gun, the one he'd been sitting on the whole trip, it must've been thrown from the car with him. Without a seconds thought he scooped it up into his one good hand and aimed it at the balled headed, green freak.

"Hey, now hold on there, David" green head said while he took aim. He didn't know how this big headed freak knew his name, nor did he care as his finger tightened on trigger, as he was about to pull it and fire green head suddenly said very fast "Thebarrelendscrushed!"

Bang, though David had caught the warning he didn't have time to change his mind. The shotgun fired, but backwards. He felt the bullets impact and get stuck in the narrowing barrel and a jet of black smoke erupted from the back end of his gun spraying him with black smoke and erupting sparks. He jumped back and lowered the gun as he coughed to clear this black smoke from his throat.

"Hey, what happened to your gun?" the maniac said gleefully. Its barrel had been completely pealed back in three or four strips which curled back away from what had been the mussel of each barrel. "It looks like a flower." He grinned.

Anger boiled in David's blood, he threw the shot gun a side and rapidly and with one smooth movement drew his pistol and fired not caring if he attracted the undead, he just wanted this guy dead, dead. He fired off a bullet and, in the blink of an eye the green masked man had changed position, only slightly but just enough and was quick enough to avoid the speeding bullet.

He must be going insane! He fired several more shots and this guy was just dancing and prancing around avoiding each and every shot that was fired.

"Come on!" he taunted as another shot missed "Hit me! Hit me! Hit me! HA! Too slow!"

David just kept firing wildly until he reached his last bullet which fired from the gun at the grinning bastard. The green guy's head suddenly jerked backwards and his eyes grew wide in surprise as, stuck between both rows of purl white, baseball card sized teeth was a single silver bullet, the last bullet David had fired. Even the green guy looked amazed as he slowly reached up and plucked it from his jaws, he looked at it and rolled it around between his fingers with a look of concern over his face because it had almost gone into his mouth and through the back of his head. But then he let it drop to the floor and that insane grin returned.

"Hey, what do you know, you hit me!" he said as if he was happy about this as well. David had more ammunition for his gun but it was in the car and the green guy was between him and it and with his arm in this condition he wasn't going to be able to run far. He didn't get the chance to run at all because the green maniac was suddenly up and close to him. "You deserve a prize I think, for such brilliant marksmanship."

"A little song..." he sang, his feet became a blur as they preformed a, what looked like a rapid tap dance. "...a little dance..." He then stopped dancing and reached out and pulled open the front of David's pants. The green guy then held up his other hand in which was an Uzi automatic pistol, where the heck did he get that? David didn't have time to think or act as he pushed the barrel of it down the front of his trousers, he then finished his little rhyme "...a little ammo down your pants!" the gun was aimed directly at his crotch.

Something large and black leapt at green face and knocked him off balance, he let go of the Uzi and fell to the ground as he began struggling with the jaws of a zombie dog. David reached down and pulled the Uzi from his pants intent on using it to kill this lunatic. But as he slipped his finger over the trigger and took aim the gun... it just faded away as if it was nothing. He pulled on the trigger and his fist just closed around air. What the...?

The green headed man then stood up and was holding the half decayed dog up by the tail, it still snarled and snapped its mouth, half its skin was missing from its body and bloody blisters had erupted all around it.

"Ugh!" the green man pulled a face of disgust "look at it; it wouldn't win at Cruft's! Even the Koreans wouldn't touch this dog!"

The guy's head then turned and looked at him with a creepy smile of mischief crossing his face as he watched David. The green guy gently set the snapping dog down on all fours but held it tight by tucking its torso under his arm.

"Hey boy!" he said to the dog taking its head in his right hand and turning it to make it face towards David "See that man over there" he said as if he was speaking to a trained dog that could actually understand him.

"FETCH!" he released the dog and it bound forwards completely forgetting the meal kneeling right next to it.

David turned and though his shoulder hurt like hell he tried to make a run for it, but the next moment he felt the dog land on his back and force him to the ground. He turned and, despite the intense pain from his shoulder he grabbed the dogs head and tried to force it away as its jaws snapped down trying to bite and rip his neck to shreds.

The shadowy from of the green loony appeared over him and the dog. "Get it off me!" he pleaded. He didn't want to be mauled to death by a dog, nor did he want to die of infection.

"Well you know I could" the masked maniac said looking at his fingers nails as if their condition concerned him more than a man about to die at his feet by a murderous dog. But then his eyes swivelled to look at him, his grin broadened and his irises which where a light blue started to glow a dark shade of crimson "But I'd rather sit and watch"

Still David fought with the dog and this maniac looked like he was looking forward to it. He was now wondering if the captain got the right guy when they shot dead Justin Tucker, because this lunatic looked like that dangerous murderer they had been looking for and appeared to be just as murderous as they had reported.

"I would help you pal, but I don't help vermin like you. You had your chance but then you chose to abandon your college to the licker monster." What the heck was he talking about? James Denning, that worthless little prick? The dog was getting difficult to push off, and worse still he could hear the moans of approaching undead who were being alerted by the dogs frantic snarls as he fought it back. The maniac continued to speak. "People who abandon their own friends and colleges just for the sake of their own safety deserve what you are about to receive!... Ah…" he stopped for a moment frozen as if he'd just realized something, then he stood straight with his right hand on his chin and eyes closed as if he were considering something. Then he snapped his fingers and smacked his forehead with the flat of his hand. "You know, I think I just might of left out ooone tiiiiny little detail"

"We'll catch up later, you two play nice now okay, bye, bye" he waved and in the next moment he'd swung his arms around himself sending him into a spin which rapidly gained speed until he was a blur of motion. The gust this spinning guy produced kicked up debris and trash before it sped off back down the street, leaping over a small collection of zombies.

This strange sight however didn't appear to have unfazed the zombie dog, who was still trying to bite down on his neck and as he fought with it he heard the unmistakable shuffling noise of the infected's short steps close by and with each second were closing in.

* * *

To Be Continued…


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

This was hopeless, Mike thought as bullet after bullet buried itself in the giant and still it came, not once flinching or twitching at the rain of bullets tearing through it. He'd seen many monsters since this crisis started but nothing as resilient as this guy.

The thing walked slowly as if it didn't need to hurry, as if it had all the time in the world to reach and kill them all and the thought that it could be killed itself wasn't occurring to it. With each step it produced heavy footfalls and it still had that cold, annoyed expression on its face. What did it even want with them? The monster stopped as Mike released a spent clip from his pistol and inserted a fresh one from his pocket, and fired. Shots entered through the things head and chest but still he wasn't dropping, his size made him hard to miss but he didn't behave like he was feeling any of those bullets at all.

"I'm out!" someone shouted over the bangs of several other pistols. They were fast running out of ammo, why wasn't this guy dying?

As the creature advanced towards them, they backed away but they were trapped anyway because it was pushing them back into a dead end section of the apartment block, the only exit was through that smashed window James had fallen through. Hopefully it was quick for him and he now rested in peace, not shuffling around like one of those undead monsters outside.

Click, click, went Mikes pistol, he was out of ammo and he had no extra clips left now. In desperation he threw his pistol at the creature and it made sharp contact with its head, but the monster didn't even blink. Mike regretted that action a few moments later because it was as if he'd given the monster an idea. It reached over as bullets pelted it and wrenched an open, solid door of an apartment off its hinges as if it were made of paper, then tossed the heavy door right at them!

Thinking quickly Mike ducked out of the way through another open door, the others weren't so lucky, they caught the door firmly on their heads and went flying back. As Mike landed and the heavy thud came of the door impacting the sound of gun fire behind him was instantly silenced. All he could hear was the slow, heavy footsteps of that big guy as he came closer and closer to his hiding place.

Gun fire then came again, but this was from much further away down the hall, probably from behind that creature. Bullets rang out from wherever, but Mike still got to his feet and backed away from the door when the massive figure literally punched his way through the wall and entered the small apartment, this guy was persistent. Mike quickly dashed back out the open door and ran past the hole as the giant struggled to turn around in the low ceilinged apartment building. A hand shot out of the massive hole in the wall to grab him, but he managed to avoid by inches and ran down the corridor.

At the far end of the apartment building some of the others had set up a barricade, made of old bed rails, doors and mattresses. It looked very feeble and Mike doubted if it would stop that Hulk like monster from breaking through it, either way he ran as fast as he could towards it.

"Mike look out!" someone cried from the barricade, and Mike turned around in time to see the massive creature advancing towards them rapidly, running so fast that Mike would've been ran down had he not dived out of the way at the right moment.

The monster rushed past him like a speeding train and ploughed through the barricade as if it was nothing, his heavy feet instantly crushing whoever he stepped on. Those who had survived this assault because they weren't in his direct path or were further away began to retreat up the stairs away from the monster, and it slowly started to follow them, the steps creaking badly under its weight.

Mike however had problems of his own, he'd dived out of the way but it was in that wall-less area with the stair case they'd destroyed to stop the undead advancing up it. Where not so long ago he'd killed an undead creature with a fire axe, it still lay there, head split open but the problem was he was now hanging off the edge of the floor which, thanks to the giants sprint, had become incredibly flimsy and felt like it might collapse at any moment. Worse still, all the noise they'd been making in here, firing guns and screaming for more ammo had attracted the attention of the undead, he could hear them banging on the walls and the glass outside wanting to be let in.

Glass smashed somewhere, though if this was the cause of the undead or that monster upstairs he didn't know. He desperately tried to hold on and pull himself up, especially when he heard the low moan of an undead, a low moan they only made when they had spotted food.

Not wanting to turn around or look Mike heaved himself up with all his might and just managed climb up and get his foot out of the way as he felt clammy hands snatch and scrape at his sneakers.

He was back up on the first floor and moved as far away from the edge as he could and breathed a sigh of relief. More glass shattering and the sound of wood straining from below, then crashing followed by the moans of many zombies entering the building told him he had to get out of here. As he stood however he heard the floor creak and sag underneath him, it was going to collapse!

Quickly Mike ran out of the way as the floor collapsed from under him, his foot slipped and he landed on the now slanting floor. It had snapped at one end and fell in creating a sort of ramp down to the ground floor, a ramp the undead could use to get up into the building.

Mike tried to pull himself back up to the first floor, his fingers gripping at the floor above and he tried to drag himself along spurred on by the countless moans of the dead. He felt cold hands grab his ankles and begin to pull on him, without looking at who had him Mike lifted his one foot and tried to stamp down on it but the thing refused to let go.

He pulled and heaved himself up and when his torso was safely on the first floor with his legs still dangling down the ramp he turned over to see what was dragging itself up. It was a girl, blonde haired, white blanked eyed and paled skinned, when she was alive she might've been pretty, but with half of her right cheek missing and blood dribbling down her clothes she wasn't going to win any beauty competition now.

He kicked out with his feet smacking her directly in the face, the persistent corpse moan and groaned as if it could actually feel these impacts but Mike knew they didn't feel pain, except maybe hunger pains. Another impact to the face and Mike actually broke her nose and several blood stained teeth fell out of her mouth.

One zombie grabbing at his legs was bad enough when about a dozen of them started to climb the ramp with her, all with the intent of eating him alive. In desperation he tried to pull himself away when his clawing fingers found something, a long piece of wood, a piece of wood that had come from the broken barricade.

Seizing his new weapon firmly in his grip he bashed the zombie at his legs over the head repeatedly until its grip faltered and he pulled himself free.

The moment he was clear he crawled over towards the broken barricade, many of his fellow Red Skulls lay motionless on the floor, dead. Would they become like these things in a minute? He wondered because they didn't die from a bite. Well before they did Mike decided to take anything useful from them, like a pistol he'd just taken from Rich's corpse, rest in peace. Mike took aim and blasted a zombie that had just climbed the ramp and had just got to its feet. She caught the bullet straight in the head and her undead moan came to a sudden stop. She fell back into the pack hindering the other dead from climbing up.

More gunshots from upstairs, even if Mike could stop this army of undead there was still that monster upstairs to deal with. Mike was fast considering abandoning this post and running upstairs, there was no way he could stop this army on his own. They'd probably have to abandon the hideout and escape through the emergency exit on the fourth floor.

Mike was about to run up the stairs to help his fellow survivors when he heard something, something unusual which made him stop.

"Now hold on a minute, mate!" said a voice, a very calm sounding voice with an English type accent. There was a man standing at the top of the ramp looking down at the zombies trying to crawl up, where did he come from?

The man pointed down at one of the zombies "Are those trainers?" he said "Sorry mate you can't come in!" The zombies just moaned and groaned at him and some foolishly reached up to grab at him but had started sliding back down the ramp into their fellow undead. "Moan all you like, that's the rules, if you're dead then you're not allowed inside" and with that he reached into his jacket pocket and produced a long crowbar, he jammed it into the small gap between the floor and the wooden ramp and with one heave he not only broke it off but it flipped over and landed on top of the zombies trying to climb it, halting their advance further into the building.

The man turned and Mike now got a better look at the guy, he was in a red suit that didn't look creased or stained or worn at all, as if it'd just been laundered. His head was also large, balled and green. He looked directly at Mike, his face was just as awkward, his eyes were the size of tennis balls and his nose was hooked and at least half the size it should be, he also had no ears visible through what looked like a big, green, rubber mask. He grinned, showing a row of perfect, white baseball card sized teeth.

His blue eyes rolled to one size and he listened to the moans and groans of the zombies below.

"Listen to them, the children of the night" he said his accent, now of someone from a 50's Dracula movie "all chanting the words, FEED ME!"

Mike hastily lifted his gun to point at the green guy.

"Say, I'm looking for someone" his accent was American now and sounded like his usual accent "have you seen him, he's so tall..." the green guy mimed with his hands "So wide, pale, balled, wears a big leather trench coat, doesn't talk much, mostly indestructible?" Who the heck was this guy? Was he something to do with that monster upstairs? "Only his mom says 'it's time for him to come in for his tea.'"

A loud thud came from upstairs and the building actually shook slightly.

"Ah, never mind I think I know where he is" and before Mike could blink the green man whooshed past him so fast he couldn't believe it, and was running up the stairs after the big guy.

Mike stood there and blinked a few times, did he hit his head when the floor collapsed?

* * *

James didn't so much run up the stairs more like bounce up them, wearing the Mask really made the world seem like a strange place. It was weird having your body mangled and not being able to feel it, it was odd when you had sharp objects sticking out of you and not either bleed or feel the pain, but it was preferable, pain just held him back, without the pain thing he could do anything and, as he'd found out countless times, while he wore this thing he couldn't die.

Getting revenge over David Brown was fun, but he'd completely forgotten that there were people back here in danger of a giant in a leather jacket. He must stay focused, it was easy to get distracted in this thing, must remain focused and kill the monster before it hurts anyone else.

James reached the fourth floor and burst through the door frame, that had been made wider by the giant breaking through it.

"Here's James!" he said sliding into the corridor on his tap shoes.

There it was, the giant, he was slowly walking towards a bunch of helpless people firing guns uselessly at it. James whistled to get the big guys attention, he wasn't scare of him, why should he be? He can't be killed while he was in the Mask. The tall man in the coat actually stopped briefly and turned around to view where the noise had come from.

"Hey there! Shouldn't you be green with bolts coming out of your neck?" James shouted at the giant man in the leather coat. The giant then turned around and began walking towards 'him' which James thought of as odd since there are half a dozen people behind him who were much nearer and firing guns at his bulk, and all James has done is whistle at him and insulted him, but for whatever reason it seemed James was his next target.

The giant slowly walked right up to him and James didn't move or falter or show the slightest hint of concern for his own safety as the thing raised its arms above its head and was about to bring those powerful hands down on top of him. But at the last minute, zip! James moved out of the way just enough to avoid the hands which crashed into the floor creating a sizable dent in it. Then before the giant could lift his hands up again, James moved around the giants back and quickly climbed up onto his shoulders. Out of nowhere he pulled what looked like two drills, one in each hand and placed them on either side of the giants neck. With a loud whizzing noise the two machines drove two Frankenstein like bolts straight into the giants neck.

"That's better!" James commented as he leapt down before the giant could grab him. It turned sluggishly around to view him again.

"Say Frank!" he decided to name the mute giant Frank, after Frankenstein's monster "Are you related to Hightower? One eyed guy, carries a rocket launcher, has an unhealthy obsession with STARS?"

With surprising speed Frank grabbed James Mask covered face in one giant hand and literally crushed his head like and egg. James didn't feel anything as his skull cracked in several places and collapsed, and he was sure he was undoubtedly still alive due to the Mask protecting its wearer from harm.

"I'll take that as a 'no' then shall I?" his crushed mouth struggled to say. James breathed in heavily and held his breath, his head then regained its original shape with a pop. Grinning James was hoping to see the look of bemusement on Franks face, but unlike Hightower Franks face didn't seem capable of any sort of emotion at all except that cold looking terminator like stare. "Oh, you're no fun!"

Suddenly Frank reached out and grabbed at his suit and lifted him up off the floor so his feet dangled in mid air. Franks other hand came up and clapped around his head again and he pulled hard, what was he trying to do, rip his neck off? His neck didn't break however instead he felt it stretch like rubber.

"Hey, what do you think I am, a stretch- arm-strong?" James could feel his face also begin to stretch out of proportion again as his head and back stretched with his neck. "I hope you have the number of a good chiropractor buddy" he managed to mutter "because this is really going to hurt in the morning!" The giant let go and his head and everything snapped back into place.

The mute giant raised his fist and punched James incredibly hard in the face. His head fell backwards and impacted with the wall just behind him, the force of Frank's fist impacting both him and the wall resulted in quite a few cracks in the brickwork and when Frank removed his fist James could feel that his entire head had been flattened and imprinted into the wall.

"You know, you guys really leave me flat." He never knew he was capable of these witty one liners, he just seemed to be pull these out of nowhere, just like the cricket bat he'd just pulled from his trouser pockets and whacked Frank over the head with, which didn't seem to result in anything but a snapped cricket bat.

"Oh, now that really isn't cricket old bean" James said imitating a very posh British accent as his head peeled off the wall and began to re- inflated back to its normal shape. "It's more like, boxing"

James, somehow now had a pair of big red boxing gloves on and bashed Frank hard in the face several times, he then tried rapidly punching him in the chest his fists a blur of motion but Frank didn't seem to react. Finally James raised his foot sharply between the giants legs and kneed him in the nuts. But even that didn't... _Oh come on! What's with this guy, surely that hurt a little?_

"Ah! that's why you're so grumpy" he said grinning to show his freakishly large teeth "you were neutered as a child weren't you? Well, benefit for the human race, at least you can't reproduce."

Frank grabbed his shirt again, lifted him up and threw him down the corridor at the retreating gang members who were exiting through that door onto the roof of the building next-door. James screamed as he flew straight at them, they ducked as James slammed straight into and through the wall next to the door leaving an inverted James shaped hole and came crashing down to the floor on the opposite side. Still James had felt no damage to himself, or pain but he felt dizzy, so dizzy he didn't feel like getting up right now.

"Touchy I see" he said, tweeting birds circling his head.

The rest of the gang seemed too busy to notice the guy with the big green head across the roof with a flock of birds circling his head as they primed their weapons ready to fire on Frank the moment he showed his ugly balled head. They probably assumed he was dead or something, what a surprise they were in for when he finally got his breath back and the world stopped spinning.

"What the heck are you doing?" hissed a voice from someone coming close to him, he shook his head and the tweeting birds vanish and turned his head which was still spinning to see it was Elaine Grant talking to him. _Ah Elaine, be still my beating heart_ he thought as he felt his heart pounding in his chest, she was very pretty he had to admit now, especially when she was angry. Usually he wouldn't approach her, let's face it the world is going to hell you've usually got more important things on your mind, but for some reason James now felt attracted to her or was less afraid to show it.

"Hey, you know you're pretty when you're angry" he said grinning as he quickly stood up and put his arms around her, "What do you say we grab a bite to eat after I return Frank back to special needs?" But Elaine didn't take this well, she broke his embrace with a quick swipe of her arms and took a few steps back.

"I said that thing was dangerous! What are you doing wearing that Mask again?" at first James didn't answer that question because he heard heavy footsteps coming closer to them, he turned in time to see a heat radiator flying through the door through the air and smashing into his head, knocking him back down again. Then James decided to answer the question as he lay on the floor with a large U shaped dent in his head "What am I doing with the Mask? I'M GETTING MY ASS KICKED, WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE!"

The giant broke through the small door frame with ease and was on the roof with both James and the other survivors. Odd though, James admitted despite he had dozens of people firing guns at him and he had bullets tearing into his body all the giant seemed to care about was 'him'.

Quickly James grabbed Elaine, lifted her up and sped towards the survivors before putting her down again. "You just wait here while I teach this guy a lesson." As he finished this though Frank grabbed forcefully grabbed the back of his suit and launched him across the roof again, he landed softly rolling over and over until he came to the edge and stopped just before falling.

Again the giant advanced towards him ignoring all the other gang members firing guns at him, what's with this guy, he's being attacked by several other people why is he desperate to get at him? James lay there trying to get his breath back when Frank grabbed him by the left arm and violently lifted him up off the ground again.

"Mind if we take five?" James said holding up his free hand to show all five fingers, but Frank didn't show any indication he understood as his own fingers clamped over James nose and yanked on it so hard his small hooked nose stretched out. When Frank realised his nose wasn't just going to rip off he let go and the nose hung long and limply down towards the ground almost three feet in length. The giant raised his hand to try something else, but James somehow, he didn't understand how, lifted his nose up by itself and produced a very loud elephant like squeal from the end of it and blasted Frank full in the face spraying him with snot and mucus.

Frank was not amused, didn't this guy ever smile, or become angry or anything like that, what the heck was with that moody look he seemed to have? Frank grabbed James' long nose and using it like a rope and swung him by it over his hand and smacked him into the floor in another futile attempt to kill him, it didn't work obviously but it did cause stars to erupt from his head and circle him in a cartoon vision of dizziness.

"You know, I'm more universally known as the skipping rope." James said with his nose still trapped in Franks hand was yanked again as the giant slowly lifting him up off the ground by his nose so his feet were just inches from the ground.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, STOP! This is a waste of time." James pleaded and Frank actually stop and looked like he was actually listening to him. "Now listen, Frank, sorry but..." James was conscious that smoke had began hissing out of his nose as if he was smoking and blowing the smoke out through his nose. His mouth opened and he spat a large round black orb into Franks face. The heavy metal ball bounced off it and fell to Franks large feet, it was hissing as a short piece of string burned away from the top of it, it was on a very short fuse "...this is gonna hurt you, more then it'll hurt me!" he grinned. Frank didn't have time to do anything useful and the bomb exploded with a very loud bang.

Not even an explosion seemed able to kill James while he was wearing this mask. He was covered in soot and the force of the bomb had thrown him high into the air and was rapidly climbing higher and higher but he felt completely fine. But what about Frank he wondered? While in the air he noticed a large hole in the wall of the building opposite the street to hideout. Something burst out the other side of that building and rammed into the following building leaving yet another hole in it, a 'Frank' shaped hole. James wondered briefly if Frank managed to survive that blast, but in reality he actually didn't care. This was the life!

The ground receded away from him rapidly as he shot like a rocket further and further into the air. The bomb was powerful and produced quite a lot of smoke but he knew the others, the survivors and Elaine would be alright down there, maybe covered in soot but they'd be fine, he was sure of it because he was wearing the Mask and though he didn't know how it worked it gave him the ability to warp reality into whatever freaking way he pleased. He wanted the bomb to only effect him and Frank, and so the Mask turned it into a reality.

His thoughts suddenly turned to Elaine Grant, what a hotty! All that long, red, flowing hair, her cute little face, her ample bosom, oh! Why didn't he didn't try to get her before, okay he was a little shy at first maybe because he thought it wasn't the time or the place to be thinking about girls that and Jacob threatened to kill him, well stuff that prick Jacob! Elaine thought he was scum and so did he. To win Elaine's affections James was going to use these powers to help the hideout, he's already saved it from a zombie attack and an attack by the Hulk's Goth son but he could do so much more.

Hey, hold on, he could see the RPD from way up here he realised. Wow, it had seen better days by the look of it. A helicopter had crashed into the building on one side and there was a hole in the roof as if something had been dropped through. It also looked like there had been quite an horrific crash between a gas tanker and a wall just outside the back door to the precinct, must've happened recently because the flames were still burning bright and out of those flames staggered countless undead which didn't even notice the flames covering them as they walked. James was glad he left the RPD when he did, the place looked like it was going downhill fast and he wondered briefly if Marvin or Chief Irons were still alive in that building.

Now hold on a second! The group back at the hideout needed weapons and ammo especially after that fight with Frank, and the RPD had scattered ammunition cashes all over the place, he remembered, it was in case of a terrorist attack, the ammunition cashes had been moved to safer locations to prevent them falling into the wrong hands. They were hidden so well that even the officers who worked there could find them. That's one of the reasons they had been so unorganised and so unprepared for the zombie outbreak, they didn't have the fire power to hold them back.

Well then, while wearing this Mask he was sure to find all the cashes and deliver the weapons right to those who needed them, but first he had to get down. Though it was against every instinct he had, against every alarm bell ringing in his head, he simply did nothing.

SLAM! He smacked into the ground as gravity returned him to earth much quicker than anything he could produce, unless he could produce a cannon from his head and fired it, and wearing this Mask he guessed he probably could. His fall had been cushioned though by a car, a pale green hatch back which collapsed and crumpled in on itself with the impact. Slowly he got up he and stepped out onto the pavement and realised he had shards of glass sticking out of his body at awkward angles and 'awkward' places and still there was no pain. Man, he loved this mask!

A soft moan caught his ears and a shuffling noise as another of those undead creatures dragged itself from a dark alley and began to come closer and closer to him seeing James as a walking lunch. James mouth upturned in a suitable mischievous idea. Removing one of the large glass shards that was buried deep in his head he threw it at the undead creature, catching the sleeve of its shirt as it shot past him and pinning his arm to a bring wall. The mindless creature didn't register this as it still tried to make its way towards him and simply pulled on his caught sleeve. James removed another glass shard from his groin and threw it at the zombies other arm, catching that sleeve and pinning that arm to the wall as well. Now the zombie tried to pull on its arms to advance on James, its mouth opened and closed snapping as if doing this enough times would bring James to it.

Next to the curb James noticed a brown paper bag which appeared to have scattered groceries and fruit near it that had rolled out of it, all in various stages of decomposition. James turned back to the zombie and its snapping jaws and that look of mischief spread across James' face again. He knelt down and picked up a very red, rotten apple tossed it into the air and caught it in the same hand. He pulled out another large shard of glass from his arm and stuck the apple on the end of it. Then he pointed it towards himself before flinging the point of it forward. The apple flew off the end of the glass shard and the zombie unintentionally caught it between its snapping jaws jamming them open.

Its moans and groans were now muffled by the apple lodged between its rotten teeth and no matter how many times it tired to open its mouth wider to expel the rotting fruit it just couldn't manage it.

"Bon Appetite!" James quipped as he spun on his heels with laughter before heading off towards the front gate of the RPD. The night was still young, the zombies had overran the police department and James had weapons to locate. LOCK AND LOAD!

* * *

**To be continued...**

* * *

**Authors notes:** James/Mask's fights with the Tyrants are based off the Mask's fights with Walter from the Mask Comic's and TV series.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Gun shots and a lot of moans, the undead were certainly excited about something, and no doubt it was someone blowing off a few rounds at the infected, stupid, that attracted them like moths to a flame. But whoever the idiot was he was making the job easier for James because the infected that were in the grounds of the RPD were fast –or slowly- moving away towards the gates on the other side of the grounds ready to ambush the poor idiot who came through those gates.

James thought he really should help this sorry soul whoever it was, so James produced a heavy, wooden mallet and smashed it over the nearest zombies head, killing it stone dead. Then he tossed the mallet away and walked towards the RPD entrance. Hey, he's taken down one, as far as James was concerned he's done his bit to help the gunman, why make it too easy for him? Anyway, if the guy had any intelligence he'll go down the steps, under the RPD entrance and back up the other side to avoid the zombie horde.

As James approached the entrance he noticed a movement from the second story of a nearby building. A security camera had him firmly in its sights, or he assumed it was because as he walked the camera followed. James came to a stop and jumped back a few paces and sure enough the camera turned to get him back into view. Then he jumped forward, then backwards rapidly and the camera kept trying to keep him in view. Since James had an audience somewhere in this dead city he tapped danced on the spot, pranced about and even moon walked across the garden and still the camera kept him firmly in its sights. "Smile, you're on candid camera!"

Deciding to forget about the funny security camera James approached the heavy doors of the RPD and with one swift kick the doors burst open and he prepared to slaughter whatever zombies waited on the other side.

"OKAY, NOBODY MOVE!" he cried when the doors swung open, impacted the walls, bounced back and slammed shut in his face. Well that was awkward and embarrassing, hopefully no one saw that.

James pushed on the doors and entered the police station. The massive hall was large, echoy and silent which was emphasised by the way his spats clattered on the dull, tiled floor. The place was empty, no zombies or monsters, or massively built creatures that looked like advanced cancer patience's, nothing, he was safe and that was boring to him but it just made his job easier James guessed.

Left and right of him were a couple of doors, both were boarded up and for good reason, he knew there were zombies waiting on the other side of those two doors, James and some of the other police officers had boarded them up a few days ago in an effort to contain the invading infected, but since it was unlikely anyone was left alive in this building James quickly wrenched the boards off both the doors with his bare hands to allow easy access later and tossed the planks anywhere out of sight. He then decided to take the door on his right that lead to dog kennels and prison cells. He didn't know where the weapons caches' were hidden but if he took the whole RPD apart stone by stone then he'll be able to find them, eventually.

He turned the handle and opened the door, and screamed wide eyed like a girl when a decayed hand reached in through the gap, clasped his wrist and pulled him through the door. There was a horde of these creatures through there, bloody, blind, husk of faces that see him as food.

"Whoa, wait guy's you don't want to eat me!" James said "You like live food, right? But I should've died more times than I can count." But the undead didn't seem to care, they clawed at his perfect red suit trying to get at his soft insides. "Plus my skins like a rhino's, tough and tasteless!"

A nearby zombie stuck James' fingers into its mouth and bit down and pulled to try to separate them from James' body but instead his fingers just stretched like they were made of rubber. "Did I mention I am very rubbery too." He grinned broadly.

Another zombie had him by the shoulders and was trying to pull him towards his chomping teeth. Most of the front of its face was missing, noticeably his lips leaving both sets of its teeth exposed and they were brown and bloody. "EWWWww! ugly plaque build up!" James quipped before he head butted the zombie in the face smashing its nose off.

Click, click. That sounded like a shot gun being loaded. BANG! and the wind was knocked out of James as scattered pellets tore through his body and all the zombies around him dropped dead as a spray of scattering shot tore through the entire horde. Taken by surprise James fell back, impacted the wall and slowly slid down the wall leaving a bloody smear, a massive hole in his chest was leaking blood badly. He sat down against the wall and just stared ahead with vacant eyes.

Someone came down the hall, a woman and a very pretty one at that. She wore pinkish, red clothes and looked a little like a biker, she was a brunet, had a smooth, heart shaped face and a well proportioned body. She pushed her shot gun back into its holster on her back and drew her pistol and gingerly stepped over the mass of corpses. She walked right past James and entered the door he'd just been pulled through and shut the door behind her.

It took James a couple of minutes before he realised "Hang on, what the fuck am I doing laying on the ground bleeding out? I can't die."

James leapt to his feet and dusted down his red suit which despite being clawed at by zombies was perfectly smooth as if it had just been pressed and ironed. He considered going after the girl and trying to woo her with his new charms, but no, he forced his mind back to the matter at hand, he wasn't here to pick up girls, he had to find that weapons cache so he could impress Elaine and get off with her.

Man the RPD was creepy when it was quiet, even before all the blood and gore and broken windows and so on it was creepy. This place used to be a museum after all before it was a police station and James always found museums creepy, all the staring, vacant eyes of dummies made of plastic just staring at you with no life in them whatsoever was just creepy. But then again that was like a night out on the town in this city.

James entered a long hallway with shattered windows down one wall and scattered glass on the floor that crunched under his spats. To make this boring trek more fun he began to randomly goose step down the corridor making as much noise as possible to attract something, anything, he was getting bored!

Halfway down the corridor something did happen, something hit him sharply on the back of the head causing his large teeth to fly out of his mouth and clatter to the floor. "OK, WHO THREW THAT?" his teeth chattered by themselves as James started to feel a pinching on the small lumps where his ears should be.

Picking up his teeth and replacing them in his mouth he pulling a mirror from his pockets he gazed at his own reflection and saw a bloody, decayed, black crow pecking at where his right ear was. "Oh look, crow earrings!" Within seconds a swarm of those crows came flying through the shattered windows like a hurricane and began pecking and biting his body, some of them were pecking in very unusual places.

James didn't panic, he just stood and let the crows get on with it. "Now here" he put on a David Attenborough type accent "we have a most interesting specimen of Raccoon City, the undead crow birds, also know under the scientific name as 'Crowsus - FuckingAnnoyingus, an infected species that attacks, without warning, any creature that has a heartbeat." He held out his right arm and continued his commentary "See how they peck and bite at the smaller appendages in an attempt to snap them off. They are also prone to trying to bite off the geniTALS!" his voice went high pitched when one of them did "...of their intended victim."

James cleared his throat before continuing on "BUT WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN SUCH A SITUATION YOU MIGHT ASK?" his accent was now one of a TV salesman. "OF COURSE YOU COULD LET THIS UNDEAD BIRDS PECK AT YOU UNTIL YOU DIE, BUT DO YOU REALLY HAVE THE TIME? WHAT CAN YOU DO, WHO CAN YOU CALL... No not them... WHAT YOU DO IS..." he twisted his form left and raised his arms "ENTER SPIN CYCLE!" he screamed and crossing his legs over James sent himself into a mad spin that threw the crows off his body and scattered them all over the hall. Some died from the impact with the walls, those that survived flew back outside and began to re-group into a massive, black swarm.

James stopped his mad spin and looked out at the swirling swarm, it looked like an oncoming hurricane that was going to rip him to pieces.

"NOW THEY ARE OFF, BUT ARE ABOUT TO COME BACK FOR SECONDS, WHAT DO YOU DO NOW FOLKS?" James asked no one in particular. He flung his arms up into the air and cried "BRING ON THE WALL!" the next moment the crows vanished as a solid brick wall fell from the sky and smashed their tiny, undead bodies into paste onto the pavement outside.

James leaned against the windowsill and looked down at the wall. In it were dozens of crow shaped holes all in different poses, some in ridicules positions like doing the splits or being arranged in a triangle. "Ohh, tough luck! You had to make the shape. Thus ends another episode of 'Hole in the wall' HAHAHA!"

Continuing on, James kicked down the next door and continued his search, he searched every room in this wing of the police station and found practically nothing. It wasn't' until he arrived on the roof that something interesting happened, or had already happened. There was a crashed police chopper in the side of the wall. "OOH, JUST LIKE IN VEGAS!" James grinned remembering the scene of a Cadillac being stuck in the wall of a casino. "I like it! It has class, it has panache" he talked in the accent of an art critic "it just screams, 'Look out, danger' and just goes to show you can never always expect the unexpected!" no sooner had those words left his mouth then something slammed into him knocking him to the floor on his front.

"I'll say no more." He grinned broadly as another one of those skinless, blood red lickers started crawling all over his vulnerable form.

"HELP! BUTT RAPE!" James cried before he kicked the licker off him. "GET OFF, you're wrinkling my suit."

The licker flicked out it's whip like tongue and it snapped directly at James who avoided it with no effort, then sending himself into a spin he emerged dressed in an Indiana Jones costume, complete with whip. The same licker backed up ready for an attack, but Indiana James Mask flung the whip back and snapped it forward lassoing the licker around the neck.

Grinning James wiggled his eyebrowless brow at it before he sent himself into another spin, the whip became taught and the licker was sent whirling around and around as James span.

"Around and around you go where you stop, I DON'T CARE!" James let go of the whip and the licker was sent flying high into the air as the whip untangled itself from the nightmarish creature. Of course what goes up, must come down and the licker did, it come down and crashed through the skylight a little ways away with a smash.

James was about to follow it when he heard gun shots, BANG, BANG. Someone had a gun, which meant someone was alive, maybe that hot biker chick! James leapt over and leaned sharply into the skylight without falling into it, but no it wasn't that biker chick. It was someone in a cop uniform desperately trying to fight off that Licker. 'Boy, he must've shat his pants!' James thought. The guy was running for a door, opened it and slammed it shut without killing the licker.

"What a baby, do I have to do everything myself?" James yawned dropping into the room and somersaulting to the floor he landed on the back of the licker. James clothes had altered to those of a cowboy and he began treating the licker like it was a horse.

"YEEEHAA! COME ON SKINLESS, IT'S TIME TO RIDE OUT!" the licker bucked and hissed trying to throw the cowboy off, James sharply kicked it in the stomach with the spurs on his boots trying to get it to behave itself, but instead after a few minutes of this all he'd managed to do is kick it so many times he'd chopped it in half.

Falling on the floor James huffed and quipped "Man, you aren't half the horse I thought you were." James got to his feet and produced a revolver "time to put the old dog out of its misery." James aimed the revolver and with one shot at the still squirming lickers head he killed it stone dead.

Man, he was getting nowhere in this venture! What the heck was Chief Irons thinking when he decided it was best to lock the guns away in secret places? James kicked the door down and walked past the cockpit of the destroyed helicopter that was poking in through the wall.

He really wasn't getting anywhere, for the past few hours he'd searched the police station top to bottom, ran into a few zombies on the way but most he'd found were dead. If he didn't know any better he'd swear he wasn't the only one in this police station.

Once, while walking down a corridor that had its windows covered in wooden boards that were nailed to the walls, a dozen bloody, scratched, blackened nailed, hands reached in and grabbed him and tried to pull him through the window, thankfully the wooden boards kept him safe and he managed to break away and continue his search but not before giving those hands that were reaching in through the wooden boards a quick manicure, hey the undead had a desire to look good, probably, though he did use a hack saw to give them that manicure which resulted in the undead not having any hands afterwards, but oh well they can't feel anything, they certainly can't now with no hands! James decided to get out of there before the zombies decided to sue... could they sue? Did zombies have zombie lawyers? But saying that who could tell the difference?

Heading down to the garage he entered the police cells to begin searching them, but all he'd found were a few open kennels with angry, barking, undead dogs and an open man hole cover that he did not decided to go down because he could hear strange noises coming from it.

Leaving the kennels he walked down to the end of a row of cells, as he passed the last one he saw something he didn't expect to see.

"Hey you!" said a voice which made James spin around. Someone was sitting in a cell, a tall man wearing a dull shirt, dull trousers and an even duller hair cut. "Aren't you that psychopath murderer from a few weeks ago?"

"No" James said cheerily "But I guess we must be related!" The masked James went up to the cell bars and leaned against them. "So what are you in for? Let me guess, you were arrested by the fashion police."

"I locked myself in here" the man explained "I'm waiting right here until things blow over or someone comes looking for survivors."

"Hey, weren't you the journalist who kept snooping around the green headed murderer case?" James smiled, he could never forget this guy, Ben Bertolucci his name was and he'd kept hounding the police force for information, eventually he was arrested for some charge or other and was dumped in this cell.

"Yeah, but I ain't covering your sorry ass anymore." He explained

"Seriously, we're not the same person, I'm just wearing his mask." James grinned his white teeth again.

"Yeah, perfect time to play Halloween man, those zombies don't care if you're crazy, they only care if you have a heartbeat. Anyway I'm onto something far bigger then a murder investigation." He explained.

"What?" James asked genuinely interested.

"Oh no, I'm not passing on my info with anyone else until I know I'm safe. This info doesn't leave this cell..." He crossed his arms over his chest. "and while I've got the key..." he held up a silver key in his right hand. "No one is getting to me."

Ben wasn't prepared however when after he blinked James had mysteriously materialised inside the cell right next to him. "Is that a fact?" James asked jokingly.

Ben yelped and dropped the cell key to the floor "How did you do that?"

"I've punched my way through solid brick walls, though fair I was actually thrown through them, you don't think a few bars on a prison will keep me in, or out." James walked over to the cell wall and leaned against it. "Now, you said the info doesn't leave the cell, so come on Colombo, spill the beans."

"Hmm." Ben considered "I guess you're not likely to live to use it if you step out of this cell anyway." Ben went to an opposite wall and leaned against it.

"You know Umbrella is behind this, all of it, I've uncovered documents that S.T.A.R.S. members Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine uncovered evidence that Umbrella was conducting bio-weapon experiments, creating something called the T-virus that turns any living creature into a mutation with the only desire to kill all those around it."

"Sounds like my neighbour's dog" James quipped.

"But Chief Irons is under Umbrella's pay roll. The police were totally unprepared for this terrible disaster because of interferences at the top. Chief Irons clearly hindered investigations into the mansion disaster, he suspended Chris and Jill to keep them quiet and when this outbreak started happening, to slow the police down long enough for the virus to destroy the evidence he had weapons moved to a safer location that was to be undisclosed. All this just to keep the outbreak quiet."

"Woah, woah, hold up, turn back a few pages. Chief Irons is responsible for us not knowing where our weapons were? That he's responsible for the death of all those police officers, all those innocent civilians? My family and friends, just because Umbrella wanted to keep this damn outbreak quiet for as long as possible?" James' blood started to boil but he tried to remain calm, but the Mask seemed to be saying 'fuck being calm'. Moans and groans could be heard from somewhere in the police station, zombies on the move. "Keep it quiet? He's doing a fine job of it! And he knows where the weapons cache is?"

"Yeah" the reporter said sensing the change in James' mood.

James was aware smoke was billowing out of his ears. Then suddenly he had a hunting rifle, was wearing a hard hat like those in old jungle films would have and he'd grown a very long moustache. "Time for the hunted to become the hunter." And he cocked the rifle.

James slickly stepped out of the bars and turned back to Ben briefly to say "Enjoy your stay, I hear they do good bread and water here." Before running off, through the car park, around the police station before arriving where he knew Chief Irons office was, if he was still alive and hopefully he was James was going to kill him!

James stopped just outside Irons office and decided to knock on the door gently, and then pressing the side of his head to the door, but he couldn't hear anything, no movement. No wait, there was movement but not movement made by anything human.

Taking the door handle James opened up the door to Brian Irons office. All four walls were covered in pictures, display cases and stuffed animal heads. Irons must feel right at home in this new world since his office was decorated by dead things and there was one new dead thing in this office and it was walking.

Standing by the desk, its neck slowly turning to find its target was a zombie woman, she was petite, with long blond hair and a heart shaped face which was pale. She wore a long white gown with a large blood stain on the stomach where an undead had bit her. It looked like the mayors daughter only a little deader.

In James warped mind he thought for a zombie she was a looker, a pity she was only after him for one thing. For food. She raised her arms and began shuffling towards him.

"Whoa baby!" James said "Sorry darling, but I only go live ones." Her arms grabbed him by the shoulders and she tried to pull him towards her snapping mouth. "Okay, if you insist!" and James kicked out the legs from under her so she laid back in his arms and she continued clawing at his back "Like it rough eh? Pucker up sugar!" James didn't know what possessed him to do this but he kissed the zombie girl on the lips, he did this for five seconds before releasing her "seriously, you need to work on your kissing, and some breath mints wouldn't hurt."

Still the zombie girl snarled and tried to claw at his form. There were suddenly a lot of weird ideas going through James' head, he was thankful he had enough sanity to back off, he was sure there must be a law against raping the dead. Before he lost it totally and acted out those disgusting thoughts he grabbed the zombie girl by the head and twisted her neck sharply so he heard her neck break and the body went limp.

"Good night darling" he said, at least he'd put her out of her misery, did the undead even feel misery? Either way he dropped her to the floor in a pile of limbs.

That's when he noticed something. James had been in Irons office before and he'd never noticed an open panel in the wall leading to a small red brick room. That sneaky little Irons, he had a secret escape tunnel and he'd stupidly left it open for any idiot to find and follow him. That's exactly what James did, he followed Irons' escape tunnel down a lift shaft, down a creepy tunnel lit by flaming torches and into a large stone room. The walls and wooden tables were laden with numerous items of devices of torture.

"Man, Irons has one creepy fetish!" James smiled, a smile that disappeared from his face when he saw something he really didn't want to see. Brian Irons, or half of him, his torso had been ripped apart, the lower half of his body was missing leaving only his head and torso and one complete arm. The rest was missing. James really didn't want to see that because he really wanted t be the one to gut the gut bloated gas bag. James nudged Irons remains with his shoe and tastelessly said "Hey, you okay there buddy?" but the corpse didn't answer. "Nasty wounds, probably better if you have a bit of a lie down, get your breath back... and your legs." He nodded by a large hole in the floor where a pair of legs stuck out from under an open hatch "They're over there under the hatch."

Well that's put pay to finding out where the hidden weapons cache was, after all he can't interrogate a corpse. But then suddenly this Mask sense was tingling! Surely Irons would want access to some weapons and they were supposed to be sealed in a secret position, and what better secret position then a secret room under the police station. After a couple of minutes ripping down tool wracks, blasting apart tables and ripping away shelves with his bare hands he hit the jack pot, behind one of these shelves was a mother lode of secret weapons. Pistols, magnums, shot guns, knives, explosives and enough ammo for all.

"JACK POT!" he called out and quickly gathered them all up onto a sack he'd magically produced and filled it up. "Oh well, waste not, want not! HA!" and he lifted a heavy bag onto his back and turned to make his way out of the RPD when he suddenly felt something in his stomach.

James looked down to see something long, sharp and hairy sticking through his torso, the wound bled a lot but he wasn't concerned about that. What he was concerned about was the long arm of the creature that was pulling him down the nearby hatch.

James didn't have time to resist and was pulled straight down into a damp, dark corridor he didn't even know was here. That's when he saw it, and he shrieked so loud he could shatter glass. The arm that pulled him down wasn't an arm at all, it was a leg, one of eight that belonged to a massive spider, not just massive as in diner plate sized he was talking FUCKING ENORMOUS SUV SIZED!

James hated spiders, it was his all time second worst fear, the other being on a ship in the middle of the ocean, there's a storm, he gets swept overboard, there's a massive shark that comes up to him, it opens its jaws and says 'Excuse me, but there's also a big fucking spider in here with you!'.

"My, my, what a big boy you are!" James said in horror as the spider bared its massive fangs "AND WHAT SHARP TEETH YOU HAVE!"

James quickly came up with an amusing way out of this. He let his red suit morph into a gown of a dentist, pulled himself off the leg that skewered him, went up to the spider, lifted the disgusting creature up by the head so it stood on its hind legs, forced its mouth open, produced a flash light and peered down its gullet.

"You know I don't like the look of those choppers, I'm going to have to drill. But don't worry you won't feel a thing" James produced a surgical drill that whizzed loudly when he activated it. "Until I jam this down your throat!" he added in the voice of the Simpsons Character Dr. Nick Riviera

After a few seconds and a lot of shrieks from the spider several white fangs dropped to the floor leaving the giant spider with nothing but gums.

"There, that wasn't so bad was it?" James said as he rammed a cherry, lollypop into the spiders mouth to add insult to injury "Well, it wasn't for me!"

Despite this jest the spider still wasn't letting James go so easily, this was getting irritating. Those cold, dead, eight eyes just kept staring at him with... do spiders even have facial expressions?

"Hey buddy!" James said holding up his left clenched fist "How many fingers?" and his hand opened revealing his hand had eight fingers on his left hand. "I think you can see where this is going!" he added deadpan before ramming his eight fingers into the spiders eight eyes.

The beast bucked and backed away allowing James to break free. Before leaving James decided to introduce this giant spider to its arch nemesis. As James watched his ability to warp reality took on a new height as the space around him began to transform. The black, stone room became white and smooth. Within seconds the entire area had become a large, plastic bowl shape structure, the spiders arch nemesis. "You're trapped now, trapped..." he paused as if to give comical tension "...in this enormous bath!"

He quickly gave the spider a cheery wave before he vanished over the edge of the basin and continued on his mad quest to amuse himself.

After about five minutes of wandering in the cold, putrid water of the Raccoon City sewers he reached a conclusion "I've gone the wrong fucking way!" he meant to go back to the RPD.

James pushed himself through the water coming across only dead zombies and dead giant spiders, someone had been efficient. At the end of the sewer he came across a door that appeared to have a weird locking mechanism. But James had no time for this so he just pressed himself against the door, and in true T-1000 style his form melted and he passed through the gaps as easily as water.

On the other side and down a corridor he found a huge cave with a cable car suspended high above a huge drop to the cave floor. He whistled, and wondered what on earth a cable car was doing under the city.

The door behind him he'd just came through began to open, spooked he quickly leapt above the cable car and flattened himself to the roof to hide from whatever monster came through those doors. But it wasn't a monster, it was just that cop he'd saw earlier, the pussy who ran from the licker. He looked in a pretty bad way, his uniform was stained red with blood and a bandage was wrapped around his torso, he'd clearly been injured. Walking along with him was a hot, Japanese girl in red, wow for an apocalypse city he was finding his fair share of babes!

James so wanted to race down there and woo where, but something was stopping him. Only once the man and the woman had climbed into the cable car and set it in motion with him still on top did he explain his own actions, and weirdly he did it out loud. "Yeah, I know it's out of character for me not to see a babe and go drool over her but Mr. TimeLordParadox is following RE continuity after all." What the heck was he talking about? It was like his mouth and tongue were both moving without his brains permission "Speaking of which?"

Almost as if he expected it, a massive, dark figure fell from the ceiling and landed on the roof of the cable car with him. OH FOR GOD SAKE NOT ANOTHER ONE! Standing tall and imposing was a creature so disgusting, so disfigured that it made the elephant man a looker.

A fold in this creatures right arm suddenly parted down the middle revealing a massive, bulbous, red eye that rolled this way and that, looking. That was the first thing James noticed. The second was the thing had two heads, one head was that of a blond haired man and it sat in the centre of this creatures chest, the second head was more of a bulb and sat on slanted shoulders. His arms were not arms, but claws and his torso looked out of proportion with his the rest of his body. The creature also had loads of growths all over its body like some kind of aggressive form of cancer.

"I guess chemo therapy didn't' work did it?" Like every other miserable creature he'd met this one had no sense of humour. The creature raised a long, lance like finger and like a whip he tried to stab it at him. James leapt out of the way and the lance went straight through the roof of the cable car.

It quickly pulled itself free and raised the finger again, pointing directly at James "Didn't momma ever tell you it's rude to point?" James quipped as it tried to skewer him again, and again only succeeding in piercing the roof of the cable car.

BANG! Went a gun from inside the cable car and a spray of pellets fired up through the roof impacting the giant creature and it roared loudly, it then dug its long, tentacle like fingers into the roof of the cable car, there came another bang from a shot gun and more pellets sprayed it but it wasn't slowing down or dying.

"Hey! Are you ignoring me?" James shouted at the creature who seemed more interested in attacking whoever was shooting at it then to amuse James.

Bang, and another shot rang straight through it and still it continued to attack the car. Feeling irritated James pulled a long, hefty baseball bat from the inside pocket of his jacket. He cocked the bat back and just to be irritating he tapped the massive creature on the shoulder with his free hand. "Hey buddy, can I talk to you for a second?" He said and when it turned to roar at him James let him have it. With one swipe across the torso the creature stumbled back and with another bang from the shot gun that tore through it the creature lost its balance and fell into the darkness below.

"Hey! Wait for me!" James cried and leapt down after it, he wasn't finished with it yet.

Landing on the stone floor with all the grace of a cat he looked around, left and right but all he could see was darkness. "Hey! Calm down and I'll take you back to hospital, how does that sound?" still no reply, just shuffling in the pitched darkness. "Or if you prefer, give me a shot gun and I'll put you out of your misery!"

James produced a match from his pocket and he struck it across his elbow so it ignited. He screamed like a girl so loudly his teeth screamed with him. "FRANK, HOW COME YOU AIN'T DEAD?" standing in the flickering light the tall, pale faced, balled giant just stared at him with that blank expression. His coat had been burned off revealing his powerful looking chest, on which James could see a beating heart actually graphed onto his skin. "Heart transplant didn't go well did it, no wonder you're so pissed." James grinned "You should sue."

The moment those words left his mouth then Frank had lifted his powerful arms and crashed them down onto James head, flattening him like an accordion and his body actually folded up like one. "No sense of humour, some people."

Out of the darkness came another figure, the cancer patient with two heads. The two giants stood facing each other as James unfolded himself back into his original shape.

"Hey, Two Face" he decided to name the new creature "Meet Frank. Frank, Two Face, come to think of it did you two go to the same surgery?" James sent himself into a whirl and emerged in the black and grey clothes of a wrestling referee. "Now I want a nice clean fight, nothing below the belt or in the chops. Do either of you still have chops? HEY, TWO FACE WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

Two Face was slowly walking away towards the cave wall and began leaping from ledge to ledge until he reached a tunnel at the top and vanished. "I guess Frank wins by default GA!" he muffled as Franks large hands grabbed him by the head and crushed it.

Frank lifted James off the ground so his legs dangled blow. The masked man squirmed until his head popped free above Franks clenched fingers, though his neck was still trapped in his grip and was now elongated.

"Say Frank, what exactly is it about me that attracts your attention?" he asked, for a moment James thought Frank wasn't going to answer but the look on the giants face told him otherwise as he raised his giant hand and pointed it directly at James' face. "What my face? Yeah, gorgeous isn't it! Bit on the green side though, don't you agree? Or don't you like people with green heads? Racist!" Frank ignored his flippant comments as the giant gripped the small hooked nose the Mask gave James and pulled violently, stretching it out away from his face until it was incredibly long. _Ah, it's not his face Frank found offensive. _James suddenly realised as he got the hint.

"Okay, I take a hint it's not my head that offends you, it's my mask isn't it?" as if to answer Frank grabbed James' lips and pulled on them causing them to stretch as if he was trying to remove the Mask from James face. "Sorry I asked!" his lips said despite being five feet away from his head. But this creature can't want the Mask can it? How could he possibly know about it? Well he wasn't about to give it up without a fight.

James arms stretched behind Frank, went under the remains of his coat and grabbed some kind of dull, grey undergarment and pulled on it with such force he could stretch it over Frank's head, and he did. It snapped shut right over his eyes yet his face remained the cold mask of un-amusement. Frank let go of James' lips and this allowed James to cry "HA WEDGIE!" and Frank hit him so hard he flew backwards and smacked into the stone wall behind him.

As Frank slowly approached, his footfalls creating loud thuds, James emerged from the crumbling stone now dressed in a hard hat, blue overalls and a red shirt. He also held a heavy pick axe which he was leaning against his shoulder.

"HI HO, HI HO, IT'S THROUGH YOUR SKULL THIS GOES!" and James swiped the axe down onto Franks head and it embedded itself straight into the top of his skull up to the handle. Frank came to a stop, but only for a moment as he reached up and snapped the axe's pole in two. The angry giant, now with the head of a pick axed buried deep into his skull continued his menacing walk towards James who just backed away at Franks approach.

"WHY WON'T YOU DIE?" James fumed.

Suddenly James saw a bright light firing from wherever that cable car high above had gone. A flare of some kind, it arched through the air and started coming down directly towards them. James produced another, sturdy bat, ran to where the flare was going to land and before it hit the ground James smacked the flare and it went directly at Frank, who caught it the second before it burst into a brighter white flame.

Frank was blinded for just long enough for James to morph into a cowboy outfit complete with lasso that he swung and used to place a loop over Franks shoulders trapping his arms, then with Frank tired up James knocked him down and hog tied him so his massive arms and legs were bound together. From James' back pocket he produced a red hot branding iron with the initials J.M. on it which stood for James and Mask and he pressed it sharply onto Franks rear end and held it there for so long it began burning into his flesh, it ended up going so deep that no matter how much James tugged he couldn't remove it, so he decided to leave it there.

All the while James was aware the cable car had been called back to its original position and had set off along the chasm yet again.

DING, DING, DING, DING! Went James digital watch on his left wrist. The time was 5:30am... 5:30am? It would be sun up in a few hours, he needed to get these weapons he'd collected back to Elaine and the gang before the sun came up or James, the original James was zombie chow without the Mask's powers.

"Sorry to have to leave you all tied up like this" James said grinned broadly at Franks bound form "But I gotta go before sun up." Frank finally managed to rip his bonds apart and he stood up, _man this guy's just gonna keep coming_, James thought,_ I'd better get rid of him now._

"But before I go let me give you a parting gift" James' clothes morphed back into those of a construction worker and from his back pocket he produced a large cement mixer. He tipped it up so cement poured out of it around Franks feet and within seconds he was standing in solid cement shoes and the giant was stuck. "I think they suit you." James grinned again before he rushed over to the cave wall, produced a jack hammer and hammered away at the wall until he struck a water main. Water began to pour out into the cavern and it rapidly began to fill up.

"Aren't you guys happy Mr. Paradox rated this story an M? This stuff ain't for babies!" James said for no logical reason he could think of. Just as the water covered James head he said "I hope you can hold your breath Franky, NOT! You're one of the villains in this piece so no one gives a fuck what happens to you, bye!"

Then Frank vanished under the rising water.

Of course James was unharmed, he emerged later from deep underground at some kind of train depo or something. He'd arrived just in time to see a platform with a large, diesel engine on it suddenly begin to drop down into the ground on a large elevator. James so wanted to follow but time was running out, he needed to get back to the hideout before the Mask decided to detach itself again.

Rushing through the zombie infested streets he soon arrived at the roof top where mere hours ago he had battled Frank for the first time, the sky was yellow with the rising sun, he'd just made it. Now with a heavy sack on his back with guns sticking out of the opening at the top James approached the door to the hideout, and he noticed the inverted James shaped hole he'd created earlier when Frank threw him, it had been boarded up.

Suddenly the Masked James came to a stop, there's just one thing he had to do before presenting himself to them with these weapons.

Dropping the sack to the floor with a clang James reached behind his head and instinctively knew what to do, he found a fold at the back of his head where the two sides of the Mask met. Digging his nails into it he began to pull and the Mask began to part, he pulled harder but the Mask fought to stay attached to him and James continued to pull. A whirl of wind circled him and his own red suit blurred as his own, borrowed leather jacket began to reform back into existence. The Mask turned from a warm, rubbery texture back to a cold, wooden one as it reformed itself back into its inert Viking mask shape. The Mask clung to James' cheeks and he yelped a little, the Mask really didn't want to come off but eventually it did and his face snapped back into place. He was just James again.

_Wow, what a rush._ James thought. That was actually fun, he'd defeated zombies, lickers, giant spiders and even a couple of giant monsters and came back unharmed, un-frightened and inside he was still laughing at all he'd done tonight. But now that he thought about it he realised his humour had taken on a very dark tone later in the night especially when it came to dealing with Irons and Frank. Just thinking about what he was going to do to them just sent a shiver down his spine, he admitted he'd seriously tripped out but at least he'd done some good and got some weapons for Carl and the gang.

Deciding not to dwell on it any longer James took the Mask and tucked it under his arm inside his leather jacket where it would remain safe, and hauled the sack of guns back onto his shoulders.

He approached the door and pushed it open, he walked inside and said "Hello, guys?" He had no idea how he was going to explain where he got these guns from but he'll dream up some story later, right now he really needed some sleep, and he quickly got some as something sharply hit him hard on the back of the head, he dropped everything, the guns and the Mask and he fell to the floor and blacked out into unconsciousness.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Authors notes:** Been a while since I've updated this story so I hope I didn't disappoint.

This is more of a fun run around with James in the Mask taking part in the action of Resident Evil 2 without the main, playable characters actually knowing of his existence. I've also put in an explanation why the doors in the RPD in RE 2 were boarded up in RE 3 –which at first is set before RE 2-

Update (21/06/12) changed the confrontation between the Mask and Chief Irons as I was not happy with it. Now the Mask comes across Irons' mutilated remains.


	12. Chapter 11

**Authors notes:** (21/06/12) I've altered the previous chapter because there were aspects I was still unhappy with. Now instead of James threatening Chief Irons while in the Mask James comes across the mutilated form of Chief Irons after he was attacked by the mutated Berklin and finds a secret stash of weapons hidden somewhere in the torture chamber he finds the Chief's remains in.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**September 29****th**** Early Morning**

The hideout was attacked last night, a helicopter dropped a large capsule onto the building and it ripped through the roof into the lower floors. The capsule contained a creature, a large creature that was almost unstoppable. It was man shaped, pale faced and wore a large leather overcoat. No matter how many bullets we all pumped into it, it still kept coming.

I feared most for my life when the creature ripped a heat radiator from the wall and tossed it at our party, I unfortunately was hit in the stomach by it and was sent smashing out a window and to the street below which was still populated by dozens of those undead monsters.

The impact from the capsule must've damaged the building in some way because the undead had seemed to have found a way into the floors above the ground floor, this was good luck for me because it meant there were fewer undead for me to deal with on the ground, but I had lost my weapon and I couldn't fight in my current condition, my ribs felt like they were broken.

Luckily however I spotted it, the Mask just laying there on the floor, it was reachable. I slowly crawled over the road as fast as I could aware that some of the undead had picked up my scent and were following me. One of the monsters grabbed me and began to sink its teeth into my arm, but not before my free arm had grabbed the Mask and I had slapped it on my face.

I felt the power, raw power, raw energy, after that everything went completely insane.

First I went nuts killing Zombies left right and centre with whatever weapon my imagination took a fancy to. That was when I saw him, David that traitor! He was in a small car ploughing through the masses of undead. I'd never felt more angry in my life and set about pursuing him, forcing him to crash his car and I pulled him free leaving him for a zombie dog to feed on him.

I raced back to the hideout, pushed the zombies back out of the buildings upper floors back into the inaccessible lower levels and removed the route they had taken to gain access. Rushing back upstairs I confronted the giant creature that I had decided to call Frank and blew him up with a bomb I'd produced from my mouth.

After the blast I'd assumed him dead and still in the Mask I went on to the RPD to steal weapons for the hideout to use, and I went totally insane. Wearing this thing is like being on drugs, only what's happening is real. Sometimes it's as if my mind refuses to accept what I'm doing as being possible and dismisses it as just a fantasy because most of it fades once I remove the Mask. But I remember meeting the reporter Ben in an underground Cell, a dismembered Chief Irons, battled and defeating a giant spider by placing it in a giant bath, confronting what looked like an advanced cancer patient and I even came across Frank in an underground cave who tried to kill me again.

I don't understand but 'Frank' knows about the Mask, I don't know how or why he's after it but I had to get rid of him, so... I know this sounds ridicules to anyone reading this but I produced some cement out of nowhere, poured it around his legs which hardened pretty quickly, and using a massive jack hammer I burst a water main and flooded the area we were in so Frank would drowned. Insane but I knew it was true.

I after I killed Frank I returned to the hideout at sun rise, removed the Mask and with a bag of weapons on my shoulders I re-entered the hideout, then I blacked out when someone hit me from behind.

-From the Diary of James Denning

* * *

When James finally realised he was alive it was when he woke up to a groggy feeling in his head, it felt like a massive hangover as if he'd spent all night drinking, got into a fight where someone played football with his head.

He opened his eyes, he could see objects, people sitting around him but his brain couldn't make sense of who they were, he knew he should know them but his mind was drawing a blank.

Suddenly a very sharp smack across the head started to bring him back into the waking world.

"Wake up you dipshit!" shouted a very harsh sounding voice. James groaned loudly as his mind came back into sharp focus. He tried to reach up to feel his head but his hands were bound behind his back tightly.

The person, whoever it was grabbed him by the ears and forced James to look into his face. It was Jacob the little shit!

"Glad you could join us worm" he smile an evil smile and wacked James on the head with the butt of his gun "I wanted you to feel the full force of that."

"Where's Carl?" James managed to say through the pain ringing in his head.

"Dead, like all the motherfucking Red Skulls!" Jacob laughed loudly sitting on a desk on which where the bag of weapons he'd retrieved and all of his possessions including his diary, and the Mask!

"What? But how?" James asked suspecting what had happened.

"While we were gone looking for supplies this place was attacked by some great big motherfucking nightmare" Jacob said "some weird big guy and some freaky green guy, zombies started coming into the building and a couple of these long tongued freaks joined the party to finish the job off."

Okay that wasn't what James thought had happened, he expected Jacob to have came and killed everyone in the building.

"When we returned there were so few Red Skulls we shot the rest of them." Okay he was right.

"They offered you shelter from this!" James said feeling irritable because he hadn't had enough sleep again.

"Yeah, but the war for the hood is all that matters, now we are in total control of the streets." Jacob smiled again like an animal he now had some kind of insane glint to his eye. "By the way, while we were hunting I think I found a friend of yours."

Someone else entered James' field of vision, it took James two seconds to register who it was. It was David, that rat who'd left him to die, the same rat that he'd left to die at the jaws of a zombie dog.

"Hiya pal" David said in a tone which made it clear he was not his pal. Jacob had allied himself with a cop after he'd tried to shoot James for being a cop?

"Yeah, ironic isn't it" Jacob said "I ally myself with a cop, but he is a bent cop so he's okay in my books. Without him we could never have picked off the Red Skull survivors."

James didn't know what to say, he wasn't very good when it came to confrontations, if only it was night and he still had the Mask then he'd have something to say, and some bruises to inflict.

"Then you showed up out of the blue with a bunch of weapons" Jacob smile again "thanks for the presents by the way."

"I want to know where you got these from." David said picking up a double barrelled shotgun from the bag on the table and levelled it at James for a few seconds before pulling it away again "these are from the hidden cashes in the police station, how on earth did you find them, more to the point how on earth did you get them you spineless coward!"

"Doesn't matter!" Jacob bit "They are ours now."

James had just had enough, he'd been beaten, shot at, frightened out of his wits, he'd like nothing more than for it to end. "Just shoot me and get it over with!" he spat.

"Oh no, we got better things to do with you." Jacob said. "I said 'when they're eating you it'll give me a chance to get away' and that's all you're good for. You mess with my woman, you pay the price" and Jacob smacked James across the head again and walked away and out the door leaving David alone with James.

Idly David picked up James' diary and began to read. Oh god! If he reads the part about the Mask and how he was the one who left him for dead he'd surely shoot him!

"That's private!" James shouted trying to get to his feet but he felt off balance with his hands behind his back and he fell over.

"It's gone public" David countered turning page after page. "Geez!" he said flipping through the pages "April 17th, moms birthday" and continued through every single page "You really had no life."

James felt beads of sweat start to form on his forehead. "You've really been writing a lot the last few days." He said, "what were you writing about, wetting the bed, running scared?" he scanned the pages before closing the diary "Shame I can't read it, I could've done with a laugh."

Inside James gave a sigh of relief, "You mean you can't read it?" he asked.

"Of course I can't read it" David said opening the book and shoving it in James face "Look at it, you call this hand writing? It looks like algebra." James' held breath was exhaled, all those years his teachers and parents complained about the state of his handwriting and this time it had saved him.

David tossed the diary onto the table and picked up the Mask "What are you carrying this piece of junk for?" he flipped it over in his hands and started to raise it to his face. James held his breath as it made contact with Davids face, but nothing happened and he lowered it.

"Ugh! This thing reeks!" and he tossed it back onto the table.

"Why have you sided with this bunch of murderers?" James spat at him.

"Hello! Survival, James Survival" David wrapped his knuckles on James head "I have a better chance of surviving with these low lives then I had with you tagging along behind me wanting to hold my hand through this nightmare."

"But they're dangerous gang members! You're still a cop to them." James said trying to plead to David to help him escape.

"Yeah, but I simply had to convince them I wasn't their enemy." David said, James gave him a clueless look, how on earth could he bargain with these murderers? "Jacob was once arrested for possession of cannabis. Once someone carpeted my hands with a little bit of green paper said cannabis suddenly vanished. No case and Jacob was released."

"You son of a..." David pulled out a gun and pointed it directly at James' head.

"Don't push it James, I've been through thick and thin, I've been assaulted by zombies, fired at by the army, attacked by some green freak who set a dog on me. I was close to becoming one of those walkers until Jacob shot the dog down."

So that's how David escaped becoming a walker. The bent cop put the gun in his holster and picked James up her the scruff of the neck, and tossed him into the arms of a bunch of waiting Green Baller guards. "Put him with the others." He ordered. But they didn't move, they just stared at him coolly their sun glasses shielding their eyes. "I said put him with the others! Do you want me to get Jacob back here!"

They obeyed but only after deliberately waiting 5 seconds. Perhaps David's relationship with these murderers was not as close as he thought.

* * *

James was dragged to a large, bare room and was thrown in with the others. Quickly gathering his wits he recognised the only two who were in here, Professor Marcus still in his creased brown suit and Elaine Grant who looked at him with dislike.

"James?" Marcus asked shocked "I thought you were dead!"

"No, but I feel like it" James said coming to his senses. He positioned himself so he was sat on the uncarpeted floor and he felt bile try to force itself up into his mouth but he quickly forced it back down.

"What happened?" Marcus asked him. James decided against telling him the truth for any more reason than to not make him think he was insane.

"I must've been knocked out in a broom cupboard, I only woke up a couple of hours ago when they found me." James explained to him but a quick glance at the expression on Elaine's face showed she didn't believe him, she had seen him in the Mask after all.

"These Ballas are animals" Marcus spat "They killed Carl, Mike and the other Skulls without hesitation once they got back. They took advantage of a weakness, they saw their chance to take over and they took it."

"What happened to Janine and the other survivors?" James asked wondering about the other non-Red Skulls.

"One of those Ballas too Janine into a back room, we haven't seen her since." Marcus replied, "As for the others they were either injured or infected from the attack, Jacob had both thrown onto the first floor."

"Why?" James asked scratching an itch at the small of his back.

"I'm guessing Jacob sees the undead as a moat for his castle, he thinks as long as the undead are out there no other street gangs or police will dare attack him."

"There aren't any other street gangs, there are no police, there's no one left doesn't he realise that?" James asked feeling a new sense of loathing for Jacob.

"My best guess is that the streets were the limits of his world, he was born here, taught here and he believes he'll die here. But the world as he knows it has ended and he just can't accept it so he clings to the only thing he can, the code of the streets and the code of the streets is to kill his rival gang and keep the police at bay."

"Sounds like he won't be interested in leaving Raccoon City." James stated out loud.

"No, he'll try to survive here as long as possible. When and if rescue comes he'll probably be very hostile towards them. While we're all here he holds position and power, the idea of rescue means he'll lose that power."

"Dave isn't going to like that, he wants out of this city."

"Dave?" Marcus asked

"Another cop, the one who abandoned me, he's still alive and he's working with Jacob now for as long as he needs him." James knocked his feet together, there was an annoying itch on the sole of his left foot that he just couldn't get to.

"That doesn't fit his profile" Marcus said, "Jacob would be mistrusting of cops."

"He trusts this one, he's as bent as they come." James added.

"That explains it I guess" Marcus sighed.

* * *

David went though James' belongings again, how the heck did he manage to gain possession of these weapons? He must've found someone while he was out there someone who must've been killed and like the spineless coward James was he stole these weapons off their corpses and hightailed it back here before he was zombie chow.

His diary didn't reveal much, most of it was going to be mindless drivel anyway, like July 18th Ant Margret's birthday. It was trash, and with his hand writing like this he couldn't tell what he was talking about but the few words David could make out was David, someone called Elaine and Mask. David looked at the odd wooden Mask on the table and he picked it up. Why was he carrying this thing around with him? He flipped the thing over and looked into it. In Davids mind it was just like all the other trash Derek had in his pawn shop.

There was suddenly a lot of commotion coming from outside. David moved to the door and opened it and saw a couple of Jacob's goons dragging a man by the shoulders, the man looked Jamaican, was black with long dreadlocks, had a big back pack on his back and he was in pretty bad shape. Blood oozed from his nose and his body was covered in scars, had he been attacked?

They were followed by the scrawny runt Jacob brining up the rear. "What happened to him?" David asked.

"The boys happened to him." Jacob said. "That guy's got a really interesting story to tell." He turned to his goons "Hey, bring him in here." Jacob nodded to the empty room David was standing in and the two big brutes dragged the man inside.

"The guy is called Jeff, he used to go out and scavenge supplies for Carl and his Skulls. But he's been doing much more then scavenging, haven't you Jeffery?"

Jeff was thrown into the corner of the room. He had the look of a hunter about him or a professional killer, not a simple scavenger. He tried to get up but one of the goons knocked him back down, he seemed pretty docile and David could see why. He had a hole in his stomach that went right through and out his back, from the blood splatter on his shirt it was from a long rang gunshot.

"Come on Jeff, talk!" Jacob said signalling for one of his goons to kick Jeff in the stomach. "We saw you running away from someone, someone who was shooting at you." Jacob reached forward and removed the back pack from Jeff's back, opened it and tipped what was inside onto the table. There was a portable radio, a camera and other recording equipment. "What are you doing with this shit? Why have you been videotaping those monsters attacking people?" Jacob signalled for his body guards to kick him again. Jeff coughed and spat up some blood and groaned loudly.

"You dragged your ass all the way back here. Wouldn't it be a pity if we hung you out like a zombie stake?"

"I... I..." Jeff tried to say wheezing. "I... I... am..."

"Say what? You're what?" Jacob asked he was enjoying this far too much.

"I am... a supervisor" he panted.

"A what? Explain motherfucker!" Jacob ordered "and what the fuck happened to your Jamaican accent?" Jeff was talking very clearly and very calmly with no accent.

"I... I work for Umbrella. I'm part of a specialised team, we were sent into this contamination zone to collect data on the B.O.W.'s."

"B.O. what's?" Jacob asked

"Biological Organic Weapons" Jeff explained "Those creatures out there, the zombies, the mutations, they were all created by Umbrella as the next generation of super weapon, genetic manipulation and mutations."

David knew these freaks were not natural but he could hardly believe what he was hearing. Raccoon City was practically built on Umbrella and the work created by Umbrella. To hear that they were the cause of all this was like someone saying Jesus was a murderer.

"You expect me to believe they released these freaky ass monsters into the city on purpose?" Jacob asked.

"No, not on purpose" Jeff breathed as he continued to bleed out "there was an incident in the main lab. Somehow a virus escaped and began spreading into all corners of the city."

"So it was an accident." David stated

"What about that fucking giant white trash freak?" Jacob growled "That giant fucker that was dropped on my hideout!"

Jeff spat out a blob of blood "That is a specialised B.O.W. a Tyrant, they were dropped in from another department, some to prove their battle effectiveness, some to collect certain objects of interest to Umbrella."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, I'm only instructed to observe the Tyrant. But the one that came here was supposed to do battle with a specific individual, some guy in a green mask and obtain something from him." Jeff winced from the wound in his side and he groaned.

"That green guy wasn't made by umbrella?" David didn't know if he believed that. The green guy seemed pretty friendly with those zombie dogs from last night and he was capable of doing things no normal man could possibly do. "What about rescue? Surely Umbrella would mount a rescue team if this was their fault, this is their town after all."

Jeff started to laugh darkly "There will be no rescue."

"Why the hell would I wanna be rescued?" Jacob asked with an insane tone in his voice "When finally I run the streets at last!"

"In a matter of hours there will be no streets." Jeff added mysteriously. "The spread of the infection is too fast, there is only one contingency plan, total destruction."

"Meaning?" Dave asked.

"Exactly that, destruction by thermal nuclear missile." Jeff gave a slight smirk that David didn't like. "The entire city will all be destroyed in the blast."

"The motherfucker is lying!" Jacob shouted and sounding more like he was trying deny it then actually accusing Jeff of lying.

"I am not lying. Think about the situation, Umbrella cannot allow the infection to spread beyond the city limits. They have their hands in many pies including the production of nuclear weapons, to keep this all quiet they'll drop a nuclear bomb on the town and blame the blast on the city's aging nuclear facility."

"If all this is true, who the fuck was shooting at you?" Jacob asked suddenly probably fishing for a reason, any reason not to believe him.

"I was sent here to observe and record the B.O.W.'s in action, but one of the supervisors has decided he can get a much bigger cut if he eliminates all other supervisors and steals their research."

"Whoa, whoa, peddle back, all this shit..." Jacob said motioning at the equipment "...is worth money?"

"A lot, a hell of a lot, if you help me get to the evacuation chopper before the bomb's dropped at dawn I'll split it between us." So that's why he was spilling the beans like this, the promise of getting out alive since he can't rely on his colleges anymore. Jeff looked at Jacob "you need my contacts and you will have money to rebuild your gang in some other street."

"How much are we talking?" David asked.

"Hey, you ain't believing all this shit! We ain't leaving, we've finally won the streets I ain't giving it up for some fuck ass promise of money. I'll stay and fight to defend the streets." Jacob's eyes went crazily wide as he stared at David to make his point clear.

"How are you going to defend the streets against a nuclear bomb?" and for once Jacob actually fell silent.

"A cool 5 million" Jeff said answering David's question and trying to tempt him.

"You expect me to believe all this shit is worth money?" Jacob asked disbelievingly as he picked up one of the video tapes. He removed it from its plastic case, flipped open the protected guard and pulled on the tape and enjoyed the look of horror on Jeff's face as he pulled the tap out until it snapped. "Now it ain't worth jack shit!"

"You idiot!" Jeff shouted "You dumb shit! Don't destroy the evidence, it could make us ric..." his words were stopped when Jacob without hesitation pulled out his gun and shot Jeff square in the head spraying the far wall with blood.

"No motherfucker calls me a dumb shit!" Jacob said "I am the king here! I AM THE KING! THE KING! GOT THAT" he said talking to the corpse as if it was still alive. "AH! Get this mother fucker out of my kingdom" he ordered of his two goons who unceremoniously picked up Jeff's body, opened a window and threw the corpse into the street. David could hear a couple of zombies clearly giving a sharp moan as the body landed on top of them. The goons shut the window before the undead got wind of their scent.

"Bon' Apatite you dead mother fuckers!" Jacob called through the closed window defeating the point of closing it in the first place.

David however wasn't so dismissive of Jeff's prediction that the city only had a matter of hours to live and they would all go with it, whether undead or not.

When Jacob left the room with his goons David slipped a couple of the video tapes under his uniform as well as a few sealed documents that he had no doubt were instructions on where to meet this chopper. He'll read these when he can get away from Jacob's prying eyes, the guy was clearly cracking up under the pressure and if he found out David was reading these documents he'll probably do the same what he did to Jeff.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Marcus asked

"They can't do that can they? Blow up the city?" James asked. The pair of them had listened to the walls when they heard commotion coming from beyond the wall. The walls were so thin they could hear everything clearly.

"It's the most logical thing to do" Macrus said "If Umbrella won't do it the US government will. The entire city is overrun, they probably think anyone left alive is not worth rescuing. This way they burn the virus and any evidence of Umbrella's involvement."

"The bastards!" James genuinely felt angry. If he had the Mask he'd hunt down those Umbrella bastards wherever they are in the world and he'll make them pay for what they've done. But a solid wall stood between him and the Mask and daylight stood between him and its powers.

James rubbed his head against the wall to scratch at an annoying itch on his head.

"are you okay?" Marcus asked.

"I just feel a bit itchy, must be the heat." James said, he felt very warm. "Can you scratch my centre back I can't reach back there with my wrists bound."

"What are you talking about, it's freezing in here." Marcus said. James didn't feel cold, he felt like he was in an oven. He started wriggling his arms, there was a really bad itch just on his left arm halfway to the wrist but after a couple of minutes of wriggling his arms all he'd managed to do was draw his left sleeve up a little. Then James noticed Marcus and Elaine looked worried, Marcus quickly backed away.

"What?" James asked.

Using his left foot because his arms were still tied behind his back Marcus pushed up James' left sleeve. "James have you been near any undead?" Marcus asked his eyes wide. James hesitated because Marcus would simply not believe how many undead he'd been near last night, but there was something in Marcus' voice that James didn't like.

"James..." Elaine spoke for the first time and looked both surprised and horrified "...you've got a bite."

It was as if the world had just stopped to James, he blinked once, twice and didn't say anything hoping to god he'd misheard what she'd said, he was suddenly numb to the world. It felt like hours before he spoke again yet it was only a few seconds. "What?" he finally asked.

"You've got a bite on your left arm." Marcus stared at it "and you're showing the first signs of..." he trailed off.

Was it when he allowed the zombies to chew on him while in the RPD? Surely he thought he'd be protected by the Mask. No, he didn't have any bites on any other part of his body, it was just in one spot as far as he was aware. It must've been before he wore the Mask and the closest any zombie came to biting him in this form was last night while he was fumbling to put the Mask on with that zombie woman crawling all over him, she must've bit him and he hadn't noticed. He didn't want to admit it, not even to himself, after all he's been through, after all the effort he's done to survive this nightmare and now it would be practically over in a number of hours, if a nuclear blast didn't get him first then this simple bite would kill him anyway.

He was infected.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Authors notes: **Another cliff hanger, hold on in there for the next chapter, shouldn't be too long.

Though I am aware that in the games the US government launched the nuke that destroyed the city I had a feeling Umbrella might've had the same thing planned to cover their backs, like in the movies where they destroy the city and blame it on the cities old nuclear facility, but the US government got wind of what was going on and decided to react accordingly.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

He was infected, he was going to die and very soon and there was nothing he could do about it, there was no cure for this. He had seen the symptoms often enough with the prisoners they'd locked up in the cells at the RPD. It all started with itchy skin, an itch that spread over the entire body, then the symptoms varied depending on the individual, there was vomiting, nausea, loss of balance, hunger that cannot be satisfied, then sometimes coma, certainly death and reawakening after a period of time that can be seconds to hours.

He already felt itchy and he already felt hungry but that's probably down to him not eating supper or breakfast. Soon he'll be feasting on human flesh. Would he even get the chance before a nuclear bomb blasts him to pieces? He looked over at Marcus and Elaine they were already keeping their distance from him, but they didn't call out to those dirt bags outside to tell them he was infected which he was thankful for.

James had worked himself up into a standing position, which wasn't easy with his hands tied behind his back, and looked out at the sun which was now high in the sky, it was the last day this city would see. It was so sunny and warm, with the impending doom he expected it to be cloudy and stormy but it was just an ordinary Raccoon City day.

James' gaze fell down to the road, at the dozens of walkers roaming the streets looking for human flesh, soon he'd be one of them. He looked back at his fellow prisoners, Marcus was already starting to look a little tasty. _Oh god I didn't just think that!_ James thought to himself shaking his head and felt his head start to ache.

He looked up and watched the clouds as they swirled around, mixed together, flowed overhead before vanishing. Life seemed pretty simple looking at the clouds.

He guessed it would've had to have ended like this, he could've escaped if he had just used that Masks powers to get as far away from this city as he could but for some reason he couldn't control himself, why didn't he use his powers to get as far away as he could from this stinking city? He got so caught up in releasing pent up tension that he forgot about his own survival.

He was aware someone had come to stand next to him but he didn't take his eyes off the scrambling undead on the road.

"I'm sorry" it was Elaines voice.

"Sorry about what?" James asked in a distant voice.

"Sorry about you getting infected." She replied, James just sighed.

"It had to happen at some point" he said "With all those zombies out there I was bound to get too cocky and get bitten, even without the Mask."

"I was talking about being infected by the Mask" Elaine said but this time she didn't bite she sounded sorrowful. "I should've explained, told you more about it, instead I gave you one warning and left you without any explanation."

"If it wasn't for the Mask I would've died two days ago." James said.

"and how many have you killed using that thing?" she asked in an attacking tone. "How many lives have you needlessly slaughtered while wearing that thing?"

"I wouldn't exactly say I killed those undead creatures and monsters, they are already dead." James said still distant.

"They are all alive in some shape or form, but that is beside the point." Elaine said "You have killed while in that Mask, have you killed before you got your hands on it?"

Come to think of it, no, James hadn't killed anyone before he got a hold of that Mask, he was a rookie, he'd never fired a gun at anyone never mind killed them. Zombies were different, they were already dead, they were a danger, they kill indiscriminately of race, creed, nationality, whether you're armed to the teeth or as harmless as a rabbit, they just saw you as food. James turned his head and looked Elaine straight in the eyes.

"No, I haven't killed before!" he exclaimed "But those zombies were a threat, they all tried to kill me, all those monstrous creatures all tried to kill me the moment they saw me, what I was doing wasn't cold blooded murder, it was simple self defence!" James signed and Elaine just stood staring at him.

"You've changed" she said "I haven't known you long but you never defended yourself like that the first time I saw you. It's the Mask's influence, it warps your mind, twists your judgement..."

"Do you think I haven't already realised that!" James snapped and there was a look of surprise in Elaine's eyes "all I wanted was to escape this god forsaken city, but when I put that mask on my priorities changed, all I wanted to do was release pent up tension. I hated these damn zombies, these monsters so much." James clenched his fist "all I wanted was to get revenge, revenge for all those I'd lost, all the times they'd frightened me out of my wits, I just wanted to massacre all of them and do it in the most amusing, humiliating way I could think of." James was aware he was getting angry and paused for a second to collect himself before he went on, "but when I found out Chief Irons, the Police Chief of the RPD, was in with Umbrella and deliberately sabotaged our efforts to fight these creatures back I just went crazy. I've wanted to be a cop my whole life, my father was a cop." He paused again and looked out the window at the world of the dead "I have seen my friends mugged and bullied when I was a kid, I wanted to see justice done. I knew the reality of law enforcement was full of corrupt individuals but I didn't believe corruption would go so far up the chain of command. I wanted to hurt Irons, I wanted to find him, gut him, to kill him in the most painfully prolonged way I could. I was fantasizing about how I would do it, and thinking of it now without the Mask just sickens me to my stomach." James paused again "But before I could do anything like that I found Chief Irons on the floor dead already, I still had that anger but I had nothing to unleash it on but the mutations and the dead." He turned back to Elaine with an intensity in his eyes he didn't realise he was capable of "So don't tell me I don't know how the Mask twists your mind."

"Is this a private conversation?" Marcus asked "What the heck are you two talking about?"

The anger ebbed away and James looked at Elaine and Elaine looked at James, before they both looked at Marcus "I don't know if you'll believe it."

"The dead are walking and eating the living, monsters roam the city and we're going to be blown up by a nuclear bomb, what makes you think what you have to say would be more unbelievable?"

James looked around the room until he was satisfied no one was listening and explained everything, about the Mask, about it warping his mind about turning into a psychopathic creature who only went about his own selfish desires.

"You're right" Marcus said after the explanation "It is more unbelievable."

"Those are the facts, I haven't been puffing anything, nor is this some delusion we've both dreamed up together." James said defensively.

"No, no, I believe it. I saw that green guy on the roof attacking the big guy last night. He... I mean, you practically pulled a bomb out of your ass. He was actually you in some freaky, magic mask?"

"I don't know how it works or why. But when you put it on that's what happens, you can warp reality to your desires but you lose control." James explained.

"It sounds fascinating from a psychological point of view." Marcus said he was a professor of psychology at Raccoon City University and like any professor he began speculating "It sounds like that mask somehow delves into your subconscious mind and overrides your personality allowing your inner most desires loose. Maybe it's just driven by your deeper emotions, maybe by your ID, maybe it just warps your mind the way it sees fit. I don't know, but it must unleash a creature that lurks inside your own head." All these explanations just bounced off James, he wasn't really in the mood, he felt awful.

Elaine gave a quick breathy sign "It doesn't matter how it works or why it works, it's dangerous, no one can control it, not you, not me not Justin Tucker no one!"

"Justin Tucker had that mask before?" Marcus asked "makes sense."

"Listen!" Elaine said sternly fire burning in her eyes so intently it could burn Marcus' eyes out "He wasn't a serial killer, he wasn't a bad man!" she shouted tears welling up in her eyes "He just wanted those punks to leave him alone, he was an old man, tormented his whole life by street gangs." The water works really opened up now and tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"You knew him, didn't you?" It was a statement not a question made by James. Elaine signed and looked away wondering if she should continue with her explanation.

"He was my uncle" she said sobbingly, she turned to James and snapped "and the police shot him dead like an animal the moment they discovered who the Green Headed murderer was! There was no trial, no way to defend himself, no way to explain he was under the influence of something, they just shot him the moment they saw him!" she breathed in deeply still crying "They said he'd resisted arrest, but the SWAT team just went in there and shot him dead." She sounded like this was something she'd kept bottled up a while and was something she wanted to say for a very long time.

What could James say? The Green Head murderer was supposed to be vicious, evil, dangerous, some would say supernatural, a voodoo curse, there were even whispers that this green guy was the start of the outbreak. What the SWAT team did was probably the correct procedure, they had all seen what he was capable of and James himself had seen it firsthand having worn the Mask himself, but again when the SWAT team just broke in they expected a loony capable of killing them with his teeth, and so they just shot the first person who looked like their target. But James wasn't about to defend the actions of the police like that.

James got the instinct to put his arms around her and hold her, but he couldn't do that with his arms tied like this so instead he just leaned against her and offered her a shoulder to cry on and she took it and just let it all out.

* * *

David had a good long look at the documents and video tapes he had managed to recover, though he didn't have a video recorder they were labelled as things like 'Subject A's battle effectiveness' or 'Nemesis type tactical effectiveness and durability', he managed to recover 7 tapes before Jacobs goons destroyed the rest of them. He read through each document trying to find the location of this pick up zone. The first few were just boring details about certain 'subjects' battle effectiveness others were directives about collecting samples of something called the T and G-Virus', one recent directive involved gathering information about an 'unknown' mutation that can be spotted by its big green head and to recover its mask after being defeated by something called a Tyrant, obviously the green mutation was that freak that attacked him last night, another product of Umbrella's technology.

The last document after some dull reading finally outlined the details and described a number of pick up zones and that a Supervisor should retreat to whichever pick up zone was closest to them when the time came to pull out. The closest was surprisingly near, only about 20 blocks away, it would be risky going but it was his only option to get out of this dead city before it was blasted apart. He'd even worked out the safest route where he thought he would run into as few of the undead as possible.

Trouble was trying to slip away with psycho boss Jacob roaming around like he was king of the fucking universe, if he didn't have those handful of goons still loyal to him David would've put a bullet in his brain, as is he was going to need a distraction if he was going to slip out unnoticed and lucky for him he had half a dozen distractions walking around just outside, but outside they were not threatening so somehow he had to get them inside and up to the next floor.

David scratched that idea off very quickly because the dead couldn't climb and there would be no way to make a ramp without drawing attention to himself. But maybe there was a way to keep all these Balla guys occupied. Some of the Balla goons had said how dull it was here, they wanted some entertainment so why not... say have a public execution preformed by the dead themselves. That coward James and that egg head in the locked room. Throw them down the landing and let the dead rip them to pieces, these sicko's should enjoy it and while all eyes are on them he can quietly slip away down a drain pipe.

He looked out the window, the sun was pretty low in the sky, he'll give it a couple of hours when it's night then suggest his idea to Jacob. He'll have plenty of time to get to the pickup zone before dawn and the end of this god forsaken city.

* * *

James sat next to Elaine for the past few hours as he felt gradually worse, they just talked, talked about their lives, talked about what they missed from life. Elaine missed being able to take a bath after a stressful day and her favourite books, James missed TV and his Playstation and Nintedo and a load of other things, suddenly he was thinking about food and he started listing all his favourite dishes, he just wanted to gorge himself. Oh god, it was happening, he was becoming one of those things!

Despite this Elaine stayed next to him, maybe out of some instinct to be decent, to let someone be there for him when he died, maybe so there was someone to 'take care of him' after he was gone.

Maybe, just maybe if he could just hold on in there until night fall he could use the Mask, use it to save Elaine and Marcus remove them from this death trap, that was the heroic thing to do, then he could go to the hospital and find out if they had found a cure, or at least maybe the Mask would allow him to concoct some kind of antidote himself. If only he could survive until night fall. He gazed out the window, it was already sun set, the last day of Raccoon City was over, the city only had a matter of hours left.

Suddenly the door was thrown open and that little shit Jacob came into the room flanked by his two goons. He pointed a gun at them and he had a grinning face like a loon.

"Now listen up mother fuckers!" he said, "it gets so damn boring here ever since I got rid of Carl. Maybe I should've kept him around, dangle him over the edge every now and then and watch him squirm." Yeah right, this skinny runt hold that big guy Carl over the edge, that was just laughable.

"It's about time we had some entertainment around here, so we're gonna play a game. It's called survival, we throw one of you down to the ground floor and watch how long it takes for you to be ripped apart by the dead. If you survive for 10 minutes we haul you back up and you get to live another day."

At first no one spoke, no one. None of them truly believed Jacob could be so inhuman.

"You sick bastard!" Elaine shouted and looked like she was going to lash out and try to kill him herself.

"Don't worry bitch!" Jacob said quietly and creepily kneeling in front of her. "I have something better in mind for you." Elaine just spat right in his eye and he jerked himself back, whipped his eye and with a look of fury on his face he smacked Elaine across the face.

"You... son of a bitch!" James struggled to say feeling very light headed, he was burning up, he was sweating all over, he was itching all over and his bones felt like they had grown spikes.

Then Jacob lashed out and grabbed James by the scruff of the neck and hoisted him up to his feet.

"No, no don't shoot him!" Elaine screamed.

"I ain't gonna shoot tampon face here." Despite this he felt Jacob place the barrel of a gun to his lower jaw, but he was so tired he just didn't care anymore. "He's gonna be the one to provide our entertainment." There was a pause as James kept his eyes shut, the light from the setting sun was hurting his eyes. "Hey, what the fucks wrong with you?" Jacob shouted but James felt too tired to say anything "Speak mother fucker!"

"Hey boss" one of his goons said "Look, he's been bitten!"

"This fuckers infected!" Jacob shouted and James felt himself being thrown to the floor in a tangle of limbs, he heard a gun being cocked and he was conscious that any moment now he was going to hear a gunshot and it would be the last noise he would ever hear.

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *

**Authors notes:** Actually, no authors notes for this one. lol

Cheers


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The shot never came, instead Jacob hauled James up and tossed him over to his goons who took him by the arms, James was just too tired to support himself so they started dragging him out the room and down the corridor but not before Jacob grabbed Elaine and hauled her to her feet and started dragging her out the door with them, another couple of Ballas took Marcus and dragged him out with them.

James wasn't fully conscious about what was going on but he knew they were going to feed him to the undead and right now he was beyond caring. It's like when you feel so sick with the flu all you want to do is rest, that's all James wanted to do, he wasn't just giving up physically, he was giving up mentally because in his state and with no apparent way out he knew he was going to die.

"Hey, you guys" Jacob said hauling open a door and throwing Elaine into the room beyond "you have fun with them. I'm gonna have fun with her!"

Through the crack in the door James saw the Mask laying on the table, and just for a moment in the twilight of the setting sun James thought he saw it's inside glow. He tried to fight the guys holding him here so he could break free, rush forward, grab the Mask and slap it on, but he was too weak and every second he was dragged further and further away from his only hope of survival.

"Leave her alone you bastard!" James struggled to say but no one listened. Jacob went through the door with Elaine and shut the door on them. James felt sick to his stomach thinking about her in that room trapped with Jacob, or it could just be his stomach starting to churn.

The gang members giggled like mad as they dragged him down to the first floor and to the balcony overlooking the ground floor. There was already a walker down there roaming around aimlessly but as soon as they arrived it took notice of them. It pulled its lips back in a snarl and began shuffling towards them.

"Hey look, look, look, look!" one of the gang members said "It knows its feeding time!" they all laughed as the zombie reached its long, blood arms into the air ready to grab them.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey" another gang member said "Let's go fishing!" and they lifted James up with little resistance and tipped him upside down so he dangled over the side, the undead man reached up to try to grab him, he could feel its fingers clawing through his hair but didn't have the reach to get him. James didn't feel scared, why should he, he was dead anyway, in a few hours he'd be a zombie too. The zombie snarled and growled as it tried in vain to drag him down and the gang members cheered and whooped at the performance going on.

Suddenly he heard Elaine scream, then something activated in James' mind, a primeval instinct, the instinct to fight, to protect someone and it burned brightly in his mind and heart. He opened his eyes to the terrifying site of the decayed, bloody zombie reaching up to try to get him and his confidence immediately took a knock, but after the initial shock his fire in his heart flared back up.

Then without warning the guys holding him dropped him to the floor and he landed head first on top of the zombie that ironically saved his life, with his hands tied behind him he wouldn't have been able to break his fall or stop himself landing on his head and he would've died for sure. He rolled away from the zombie who was laying on the ground beside him and now it was trying to crawl towards him. James still felt ill but he still had the strength to kick the zombie back again and again, with each kick the guy didn't die and the more he kicked, and the more he didn't die the more James felt angry.

* * *

The distraction was set. David had found a bag in an abandoned apartment to put all the documents and tapes he'd recovered in the bag and hoisting the bag over his shoulders and left his own apartment. David made his way down the corridor towards the first floor where he could slip down to the ground through an open window.

He walked down a corridor towards the stairs, there seemed to be a lot of commotion going on from a nearby door, it sounded like scuffling or fighting. Suddenly a door was wrenched open and a girl rushed out, her hair was messy and her shirt was ripped and stained.

"Ouch!, you fucking bitch!" Jacob screamed coming out from his the room with a bloody nose and a black eye. "Wait 'till I get my hands on you!" The girl ran and appeared to be clutching something to her chest.

David hid down a separate corridor waiting for Jacob to get out of his way. He eased his head down the corridor and saw the girl stop at the stairs and tried to lift something to her face. But then Jacob slapped her across the face and she dropped whatever she held. David briefly saw it fly through the door and began clattering down the stairs, it must've fallen through the central spiral because it took a couple of seconds before a loud clunk echoed down back up through the stair way, indicating it had landed on the ground floor.

Jacob took the girl by the hair and tried to drag her back to the room they came from, she resisted but it was no use. When Jacob shut the door behind David began to move again. He walked down the stairs, his feet echoing down the narrow space but it was overshadowed by the sound of zombie moans and groans from the ground floor and the whooping and cheering of those criminals as they tried to feed James to the undead.

Then suddenly it felt like the entire building just shook like something had rammed into it. What the heck was that?

* * *

James was fast running out of strength and that zombie was just not dying, he didn't have the strength to do any damage to it and slowly this one zombie was eroding his defiance and by the sound of it more were coming attracted by the whoops and cheers of the gang members above.

"Go on, go on, bite him, bite him, rip him to shreds!" the Ballas cheered.

Something clattered to the floor a little ways away near the collapsed stairs but James didn't care, probably just part of the building collapsing. But then he saw the ominous glow only the Mask made. He didn't know how it got down here, nor cared, what it was, was a new hope. With one swift kick he got the zombie off him and he got to his feet, he stumbled across the floor towards it under the balcony.

"Hey, where you going? Come back here, man!" a gang member cried at him. James reached the Mask but with his hands still tied behind his back so he had no way of picking it up and putting it on. He knelt down and tried to drop his face onto it, but then another zombie he hadn't seen in the shadows jumped him from behind and bit him on the shoulder, he screamed louder then he'd ever screamed before, his first proper zombie bite and this time he knew he'd got it. His shoulder felt wet as blood began spurting out like a flowing river.

James was forced to his knees and he fell face forward into a bright glowing, green light, a glowing light that enveloped his head, he was too weak to realise it but his head had just fallen onto the Mask. Suddenly he felt his sick, weak body fill with strength and energy, so much that it felt like his body was exploding with it. The building shoot as the energy twisted his form into the spinning twister, the force of it ripped the zombie apart and the transforming James blasted back into the arena where the gang members still stood watching for some kind of show, and he was certainly gonna give them one.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls!" James came to a stop to reveal himself with a big, rubber head and was dressed in a magicians uniform complete with black tux and top hat "Here for your entertainment is the master of illusion himself James Denning, and I've got a lot of tricks up my sleeve!"

James picked up the zombie that had just had him by the legs and hauled him to his feet. The other gang members watched in puzzlement as James continued with his performance. "For my first trick I will saw this man in half!" and he did literally that, he produced a chain saw and dissected the zombie down the waist. "Thank you, thank you" he bowed to applause that wasn't made by anybody but was still actually audible all around them. The gang members looked around in puzzlement for the source of it.

"and for my next trick I'll make this top half of my assistant..." he paused for dramatic purposes and waved his free hand mysteriously "...disappear!" and without missing a beat he threw the top half of the zombie up at his audience. They panicked as the undead man grabbed one of the gang members and dragged him to the floor. "and now it'll reappear!" James added just as a Balla bang member threw the crawling undead, zombie top half back at him, but James casually side stepped out of its way and it landed on the ground with a thump.

"That son of a bitch! It got me!" someone screamed from above and the Ballas looked back at James on the brink of panic.

"Hey guys, what's eating you?" James quipped wiggling his teeth a little "and now for my final trick I'll make this support column..." James moved towards the one that held up the balcony most of the gang members were viewing him from. "...disappear!" and with that James pulled a heavy hammer from his back pocket and with one swing smashed the concrete column into pieces. This caused the balcony to collapse spilling the twenty or so Ballas onto the ground floor, right into the arms of a bunch of waiting zombies that had just walked right in through the door. There were screams and yells of pain but James paid them no mind.

In the midst of the devastation, as Ballas had their intestines ripped out and blood gushing from their dissected bodies James only bowed and said "Good night everybody! You've all been a wonderful audience I'll be here all week!" he grinned and looked back at the zombies gorging themselves and quipped coldly "Enjoy your meal!"

With a single leap James arrived on the surviving balcony. The remaining Ballas tossed Marcus at him, but James just caught him smiled and said "How's it going Mark? Where's the party?" with a knife James sliced the rope binding the professors arms before moving him out of the way. "Now it's time to kick some ass!" James grinned with his giant, white, tiled teeth.

From his sleeves he pulled from it a yellow bandana, he whipped it once or twice before placing it over his forehead making loud 'Whooing' noises as his arms moved like he was a character out of a karate flick, and that's what he was going for as he tied the bandana behind his head.

James then leapt into a wave of movements that sounded quick with real whooshing noises with the 'hiya!' in just the right places. He then dropped into a low fighting stance his attire now in the uniform of a karate champion with black belt.

James began to move his lips but didn't speak at first, when he did his lips didn't match his words like a badly dubbed Japanese movie.

"You feeling lucky punks!" he swished his arms around again before sinking into a fighting stance "Think you can fight a trained master in the Masked martial art of Kick'a- you're,ass'a!"

One of the Ballas raised a shot gun and aimed it at James, but with moves like Jet Lee the Masked man snatched the gun from him and held it harmlessly pointing upwards by the barrel. Then reacting on an idea that suddenly came into his own head James twisted and bent the barrel of it as if it were made of rubber, he twisted it here and there until he produced something that looked like a balloon dog. "And we have..." he cried grinning like a loon "...a French poodle!"

James pulled the trigger on it and the French poodle double barrelled shot gun actually fired off as efficiently as if the barrel was still straight, and the firing bullets caught one guy in the head and another in the chest. James then tossed the French Poodle gun at another Balla who caught it and with him distracted James high kicked him breaking his nose.

Marcus had to stepped back away from the corridors entrance as James kicked ass and every few seconds a Balla came flying past, breaking the railing and sending him into the waiting zombies below. Then when the last of the Ballas came flying past Marcus looked down the corner in time to see James bow respectfully to his opponents as they were slowly devoured.

* * *

David couldn't hear anything except screams and shouts from those below. He didn't know what was going on but to be safe David drew his weapon and prepared to shoot any walkers he finds, in the head.

Upon reaching the second floor level something old, rotten and decayed jumped up over the railing and shouted "BOO!" David unloaded a round into its head and it fell back and slammed into the ground. Was it his imagination or did that thing really just shout "BOO" at him?

David turned to continue down the stairs and came face to face with that green guy again, the one that tried to kill him last night standing right in front of him leaning against the wall like some cool guy on the street.

"Scared you didn't I?" he said his red eyes looking menacing and mischievous at the same time. David took aim and fired a single shot through the middle of his head, the green guy stumbled backwards with a fresh hole in his head, but he managed to right himself and he was still grinning like a loon. "Now that wasn't very nice!" it said sounding irritated despite having a hole in his forehead.

"What the fuck are you?" David shouted preparing to shoot another shot.

"Well, once this mask comes off I'll probably just be another zombie. But it's not that bad, you get a healthy appetite and the necrosis is a pain at first but you get to like it." He said rattling all this off like he was talking to any guy on the street about cars or girls or something. "You'll like it. Just say the word and I'll bite you!"

"Bite this!" David said raising his fire arm to shoot again but then the massive teeth of the green guy chomped down on the barrel of his pistol and sliced through it as easy as it would have cake. The green guy spat out the barrel and spat a few times before saying. "Maybe a little less gun oil next time."

Out of options David did the only thing that came to mind, he raised his foot and kicked the bastard in the nuts. Now that did bring the bastard down screaming and groaning. With the guy in pain David pushed passed him and he ran down into the first floor corridor and ran towards the nearest window intending to jump out to the ground floor when suddenly the green guy was there again in front of him in a flash.

"Hey David!" he screeched "Guess who!" it grinned broadly and it took the lower half of the rubber mask and pulled on it. The rubber thing lifted up to reveal the grinning face underneath, it still had the massive, baseball card sized teeth and massive red eyes and tiny nose, but the rest of the features he recognised immediately, and David backed away in shock. "James?"

"Bingo!" James said letting the rubber face snap back into his own. The masked James raised his fist and prepared to hit David who was ready to defend himself, what he wasn't ready for was when 'James' sniffed the air and sneezed, it felt like a category five hurricane had just blasted through the corridor with such force it sent David firing across the floor in a spray of mucus and snot.

"Oh, man I don't feel too good!" 'James' said holding his stomach as what looked like snot started raining down from his tiny nose. Suddenly James' cheeks ballooned out to the size of bowling balls. David didn't watch many cartoons but he'd seen enough to have a glimmer of what was coming next as 'James' blew chucks, and massive chucks at that. It was a tidal wave of sick that washed down the corridor and he was nearly concussed by carrot bits the size of tree trunks!

David was washed down the corridor and blasted down a waterfall to the ground floor where not only he but a horde of feeding zombies were all knocked to the floor. Soaked to the skin with sick David quickly got up brushed off most of the gunk he had on him and stood up. The bag! He'd lost the bag? David began scurrying around on the ground looking for it but it was nowhere to be seen. Damn that green faced freak! Damn that James! His curses came to a stop when he heard the distinctive groans and moans and from down a nearby corridor and on the floor he could see the shadows of several zombies slowly coming into the building looking for food.

David looked up at the corridor which was the only place the bag could be. He looked at the shadow of the zombies who were picking themselves up from the floor and then back at the balcony and considered climbing back up to get the bag, but in the end his fear overcame him. He got up, put his shoulder to a flimsy door, it burst open and David made his escape from this hell hole.

* * *

Man James really felt awful, he felt just as worse as before only now his symptoms were turned up to eleven. Nausea, sickness, runny nose, he felt it all. He'd already sneezed a hurricane, threw up a flood and had a nose run like a Niagara falls, he shuddered to think what would happen when he gets a diarrhea attack!

Suddenly he heard a loud scream from above, Elaine's scream! She was in trouble and there was only person who could help her. Guess who that person was!

As Jacob was causally raping Elaine James crashed the party rudely by smashing the door down. "Hey guys, the neighbours are complaining about the noise." He shouted.

"What the fuck is this?" Jacob had his arms around her neck and her jacked had been flung across the room and her blouse was torn. Elaine looked both relieved and horrified to see him at the same time. Jacob pulled a gun on him and cocked it.

"Wow! You don't know the meaning of safe sex, you should really use one of these!" and James held up a condom.

Jacob squeezed off a round that, thanks to a quick nudge by Elaine it went wide and hit the wall.

Grinning and before Jacob could fire another shot James had opened the condom packet, took the small rubber balloon out and blew into it and inflated it like a long balloon, and it then burst revealing a very solid assault rifle contained inside. "Now, step away from the girl before I shoot you full of lead" James said in the voice of Harry Callahan as he stepped into the room.

Jacob however defiantly refused to lower his weapon and was clearly so out of it he didn't see anything out of the ordinary going on at all, instead he trained the gun on Elaine. "You want the girl, back off!"

"Well, I want the girl" James said stepping aside. "But I don't think my friends here particularly give a shit" and from the corridor through the door a dozen zombies slowly shuffled into view, slowly they turned, took one look at Jacob, pulled back their lips to show their rotten teeth they began advancing towards them. "Hope you don't mind me inviting them up here, but they were running out of food downstairs!"

Jacob let Elaine go and pointed his gun at the zombies and fired off round after round in the gun chamber. Elaine backed away to the window as zombies began to flood the room. Oddly they didn't go for James himself probably because Jacob was the closest source of food.

Quick as a flash James swept Elaine off her feet into his arms and made to escape with her out the window, but not before turning back to Jacob who was backed up against the wall his gun now empty and the undead reaching out their mouths chomping ready to feast on him.

"Hey Jacob, you little shit. What do you know, I thought you were useless but you've actually come in handy!" James said remembering what Jacob said to him yesterday morning. "While they're eating you, it'll give us a chance to get away!" He grinned at the horrified look on Jacobs face before waving and saying "Tata!" and he leapt out the window with Elaine in his arms.

James landed cat like on the ground, both of them were unharmed despite dropping a number of stories. They were in an alleyway that was closed off at both ends, one side by a brick wall the other side by a metal wire fence, the undead beyond hadn't noticed them, not yet anyway after all why come after them when there was a buffet going on inside!

Marcus was already in the alley waiting for them and now he had a big, black bag with him.

"Hey Mark, Glad you could join us!" James grinned.

"James, is that really you in there?" Marcus asked a little unnerved at the freakish sight.

"Could anyone look this gorgeous?" James said grinning widely and Marcus just looked at him strangely. James knew he looked like a freak yet despite that whatever part of his brain the Mask used, one that was very confident, didn't want to admit it.

"James, James" Elaine was saying next to his head trying to get his attention.

"Yes Darling!" James said grinning and wiggling his brow cheekily.

"You can put me down now" James still held Elaine in his arms and he obligingly put her down.

"Are you alright Elaine?" Marcus asked her "no bites or scratches" he asked due to Elaines torn attire.

"I'm fine" Elaine said still in James arms. "Thanks to James." She didn't elaborate on the details.

"Aright, I've found this after that cop came washing down the corridor a flood of your sick" he said slipping the bag off his shoulders onto the floor.

"His what?" Elaine asked looking at James in disgust but she didn't get an answer.

Marcus put the bag down and unzipped it, it was full of videotapes and files. "This..." Marcus began looking back at James with a strange look again before going on "I think this is the bag of stuff they had in the other room."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, do you mind I'm behind on my diary" James said, congeruing up a pen and his diary and begin writing it. He hadn't had a lot of time to write up his last entry.

"I..." Marcus paused at James' peculiar behaviour "...think one of these files must contain the area of these pickup zones they were talking about."

The amount of moans and groans began to pick up and get louder and louder as more and more zombies collected in this area. The three set off down the alleyway, for some reason James insisted on doing a stupid walk that kicked his legs and feet out in all directions and waving his arms like a bored child. "The ministry of silly walks has nothing on me!"

They moved not just for the need to get going, not just for the need to get out of there before the whole zombie horde started coming after them, but so they could get away from screaming sounds coming from the building as the zombies from above ripped Jacob apart, limb from limb.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Authors notes:** The reason I've added that bit in where James starts writing his diary is because I've realised that James hasn't had his diary to write in the last entry, so in this chapter he recovers his diary and writes it while still in the Mask.

Hang on for the next chapter...

Cheers

-TimeLordParadox


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Looking left and right before dashing across the street David tried his best to not attract attention. He thought it would've been easy to get through the 20 blocks to the pickup zone, in reality he had to dodge massive, massive hordes of zombies wherever he walked. He kept to the back streets and the back alleys to avoid them, he usually came across only one or two dotted down these narrow streets, but a quick whack to the head brought them down. Thankfully the zombies moans and groans after they spotted him and before they went down didn't attract the attention of the migrating hordes on the streets.

It was almost as if they could sense their hunting ground would be destroyed soon and were huddling together to protect each other like pack animals. David didn't much care what zombie hordes did, so long as they 'horded' out of his way. Once or twice while dashing through the streets he thought he had been spotted, but no undead came to investigate him. Some were being ripped apart as they fought other monsters roaming the streets like one of those Licker creatures, it was mercilessly attacking the undead indiscriminating between live humans and dead zombies. Amazingly the number of undead humans was enough to overwhelm the Licker and it was slowly ripped apart limb from limb.

David didn't know much about battle tactics but he could tell how useful zombies could be in a battle situation from Umbrella's point of view. Just dump a few in a war zone, wait for their population to spread and grow to the point where they could overwhelm anything with superior numbers, this left only an enemy that can easily be killed, if you knew how, or else this made the makers of this virus a bunch of loonies if they didn't have some way of controlling these monsters, but since they attacked anyone regardless of who they were David decided Umbrella hadn't figured that one out yet.

While in a street practically empty of zombies but full of burning cars David spotted a police patrol car and went to investigate in search of more ammunition. The gun he had only had one clip and that only had six bullets, he had more clips with him but in the confusion at the hideout he must've lost them somehow. There was a dead cop in the driving seat of the car but what David also found was a shot gun the guy had used to blow his brains out, prefect. He took the shot gun out and cocked it, opened its chamber and checked its shells, empty. He searched the rest of the car but could not find any extra shells and by the way it looked the car had been ransacked away by someone who had the same idea. Without ammo the shotgun was only useful as a club and not a good one at that.

David did however receive a shock when an unexpected passenger in the back seat rose up to lash at him through the cars wire mesh grating that separated the prisoners from the police, an infected prisoner cuffed to the back of the drivers' seat pressed his face against the mesh and snapped its jaws as if it was trying to bite its way through to get at him. Since the windows of the car had not been forced into David guessed this guy must've been bitten, than arrested, the car entered a horde, the cop killed himself instead of being bitten, the prisoner died later and reanimated. David decided to leave it alone, shooting it was a waste of ammo, to open the door and put it out of its misery was a risk he wasn't going to take this late in the game.

While checking other crashed, intact cars for potential weapons he found something that despite his cold nature made his stomach turn. There was a baby chair in the back seat of one of the cars, a baby was absent from the chair but the buckles that would've held it in were still clipped together and the window next to it had been shattered, busted into and by the blood stains on the chair the undead had broken in, grabbed the baby and... he didn't want to think of it.

David found a screwdriver for what it was worth and a long spanner he could use as a club and continued towards the pickup zone.

The former cop wondered briefly what had happened to James and that freaky thing he had on his face. James hadn't followed him out, he was probably going nuts, or maybe he was attacked by the undead. David had seen him in that thing fight off an army of zombies and even take control of them so he doubted he was dead, he was probably still alive laughing like a loon doing whatever... well whatever he did with that thing. No doubt he would be killed when the blast wiped out the city.

What the heck was it anyway, that rubber mask he wore? Was it another mutation, a product of Umbrella's research or was it something else entirely? How could it enable him to pull objects out of his ass and alter his clothes so fast? Was it an illusion? More to the point if he had it would it make David as invulnerable as it made that spineless creep James was? All were questions he had to leave unanswered because there was no way he was going to go back into that mad house to try to rob James of a thing that made him invincible. Instead David continued towards the pickup zone.

The pickup zone turned out not just to be in a clearing, but in an abandoned chemical works, Raccoon city used to refine and make plastics here and other assorted stuff back in the 60s but was closed down when Umbrella bought them out. A sign on a chain link fence said 'Danger, Private Property' with a short explanation that the plant is aged and falling apart. There were holes in the fence in places where someone had obviously sneaked in at some time in the past. It gave David a prefect entrance to the facility.

Holding his gun up he gingerly made his way through the mass of tall buildings and towers. Thankfully all the lights in the facility still burned brightly which gave him hope the pickup zone was still inhabited and that they hadn't pulled out early. Over in the distance he spotted the unmistakable rotor blades of a helicopter and as his eyes adjusted to the gloom he also made out the gas masked figures standing guard.

The cop approached cautiously, he didn't have the bag anymore but maybe there was a chance he could either barter his way off, or at least kill them and hold a gun to the pilots head until he takes him out of here. It was a slim chance but it was his only chance. He huddled down by a large pipe which hid him from the patrolling soldiers. There were five of them all walking around this way and that with no pattern to their patrol but they did keep enough space between them to stop anything sneaking into their patrol path.

David leant forward and mistakenly put his hand in something warm and wet. He dreaded to think what toxic waste he'd just put his hand in, especially when he heard a light splashing sound of something leaking from a tank or something.

"Do you have to do that now?" a masked soldier asked another.

"When you got a go, you gotta go" the other replied and a sharp zip noise made David realise he'd just put his hand in someone else's piss puddle.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" the first soldier asked.

"Some kind of incident in the lab" the second soldier said "some soldiers are recovering data for evacuation before shutting it down."

"I understand that" the first soldier said "But why do they have to be so paranoid that they tell us to shoot at anything that comes close to the copter?"

"In case they are contaminated or something I'm guessing."

"We've got contact!" a far soldier called and the two who were talking went to join him. David inched his head over the side of the pipe. In the distance was the silhouette of a single, stumbling zombie.

"Freeze" one of the soldiers called, but the creature didn't stop, it just came closer and closer and closer with every second. "Freeze or I fire!" again the creature took no heed. The zombie was a she, a teenage girl dressed like a cheerleader in a red shirt and short skirt, they could all tell when she stepped into the light. She still had the vacant eyes of the undead, her lower lip was bleeding heavily and her yellow teeth were exposed in her mouth. Her body was also freakishly unbalanced due to her left breast being smaller then her right one. It looked like she had stuffed her bra but only stuffed the right half leaving her left flat, but from the stains of deep, red blood it was obvious the left one had been ripped off sometime before, obviously by another zombie.

"What the fuck is that?" a soldier asked at its appearance.

"Must be someone contaminated." Another soldier said cocking his gun. "One shot should bring her down." He fired and a spurt of material ejected from the girls chest, but she only staged back a little before continuing her advance towards them. They fired again but still she didn't drop, all the shot appeared to have done was blast her right breast so she looked totally flat chested.

_The head, the head you idiots!_ David was mentally shouting _Aim for the fucking head!_ His mental shouts didn't reach them as they still tried to disable her with a chest or leg shot. One shot did go through her mouth and blasted out the back of her head, but it didn't do enough damage to it as the thing still kept coming.

She came to a stop in front of them and eyed them all like... like it was sizing them up. It then staggered towards one of the soldiers who didn't know what to do when she grabbed him by the arms and mouthed nothing but throaty whines.

As the soldiers were busy with this one zombie David was worried about the silhouette of an entire horde following the girl from behind, as they got near the moans and groans grew loud enough for the soldiers to hear.

"More of them are coming!" a soldier warned. Oh crap, if they decided to climb aboard that helicopter and take off now that's David's last chance out the door, he had to stop them.

Then suddenly something happened that neither David nor the soldiers expected. The zombie woman reached under the man's gas mask and ripped it off and said in a deep, seductive voice "Give me a kiss big boy!" and she planted a wet, bloody one right on his lips making sure to bite him on his lower lip as it drew back.

"You fucking bitch!" the soldier shouted and whacked the girl across the face with the butt of his gun. It's head spun comically around in a 360 and without snapping its neck! What the heck?

"Now that ain't no way to treat a lady." The zombie woman amazingly said as she retreated back towards the thousands of other undead behind it. "Excuse me guys, while I get something out from under my skin!" and she took both halves of her face and she pulled, her entire form ripped open in a second to reveal, JAMES! Or the green headed James at least. He brushed off the flesh of the dead creature from his red suit, which was un-creased and readjusted his tie. "Snug fit, great for my psyche, my Psychologist told me to get in touch with my feminine side after all."

The five soldiers lost no time in standing with their weapons ready for an assault by the masked man and his army of zombies. David assumed James now had some control over them because they all came to a stop behind him when he clicked his fingers, a click that echoed around the vast area so loudly everything went silent. The soldiers stopped shouting and loading their guns in panic and the zombies stopped groaning and shuffling and stood still like statues. Everything was quiet, like something was about to happen.

James form began to alter again, he closed his big, red eyes which also began to sulk inward, his clothes became ragged and he became so skinny it looked like he had been starved. He also hung his body limp like a zombie.

Suddenly there was music, David remembered this green man, whom he assumed was still James, had made a bunch of Zombies sing and dance to Thriller a couple of nights ago. It looked like he was going to repeat it, but no, the music was different, it was slow and slightly creepy.

James repeatedly twitched his head in a very zombie way, and a full second later the zombie horde behind him mimicked the move, but did so in such a way as if the move was radiating out behind him. The soldiers all looked perplexed as well as this strange display went on and as the music went on James began his song and dance routine.

"There's a ghost out in the hall, there's a ghoul beneath the bed.

Now it's coming through the walls, now it's climb up the stairs."

His singing was soft and perfect and slightly emotional. David didn't realise James could sing like that. What a fruit!

"There's a spirit in the dark, and the beating of its heart.

Can you feel it in the air, ghostly haunting everywhere."

"I'm gonna be, exactly what you want me to be.

It's you who chooses me, cause you want to see, your little fantasies, preformed before your very eyes."

"Not just what you seek of me, it's time to learn the truth"

"Cause I am the proof, that the evil one is you!"

The music stopped and everything dropped slight as James sang.

"Is that scary for you, baby!"

Then the music stared up again and sounded like a strange mix of pop music and zombie music you'd hear from a Romero zombie horror movie.

"Am I scary to you? Am I scared for you, baby?"

Then James, in his twitching zombie form began prancing around in front as the zombies broke into individual dance moves behind him. Some preformed break dancing, and from the cracks and creaks they were breaking their backs doing it. All the while James showed off all his dancing skills including a side shuffle and a moon walk.

"Is it scary for you? I'm tired of being abused"

"You know you're scaring me too, cos the evil is you!"

"Is it scary for you, baby!"

Then the music dropped and all the zombies including James stopped dancing and knelt down as one.

David didn't know what to think, other than that James was really a screwed up guy. The soldiers just looked at each other, none had been trained for something like this and their first instinct would be to open fire, and that's what they did. Bullets piled into the dozens of undead ripping through their torsos and limbs, yet despite this onslaught very few dropped due to the idiots ignorantly not shooting the mothers in the head.

Once they had pumped their magazines into the zombies they stood to see the creatures still standing and stare at them. James looked at them with a look of amusement on his face. Then he clicked his fingers again and shouted "HIT IT!"

Spot lights high among the towers flipped on and all turned to light up the pickup zone. The zombies rushed them, they were running! That was the last thing David needed, running zombies, they were bad enough as shuffling lumps of meat. But instead of rushing the soldiers and trying to eat them they gathered around the copter and began dancing, fast paced dancing music like in a club fired up from nowhere and five zombie women took the soldiers by the arms and began dancing with them!

David really thought there was something wrong with himself now, the zombies were dancing with the living! Passing the soldiers from undead dancer to undead dancer each having a quick dance with the solders, some of the dancers were even male zombies, all of whom were leading the five soldiers in all the dance moves! David couldn't read the look on the soldiers faces due to the black gas masks but he could tell that the one without his mask looked around in a mixture of horror and confusion.

As David watched, laser lights shot up from no source making the area more and more like a night club. Two zombies had their arms around the shoulders of one of the soldiers and were bouncing up and down as their dead forms moved to the music, the guy stuck in the middle didn't dance and looked like he was trying to pull himself out of it. Even more weirdly, in the corner on a slab of concrete were a bunch of ragged, decayed zombies playing instruments, and playing them like expert players. Drums, horns, trumpets, bases, you name it, those undead musicians were supplying the music.

James leapt up onto the top of the helicopter, slid along a propeller blade and jumped off it onto the ground in front of the copter, now in a frilly shirt, white trousers and was wearing with a massive, black sombrero on his head. A zombie grabbed James by the waist from behind, but not to attack. In a sequence each zombie grabbed onto another by the waist forming a big conga line that began dancing and kicking their legs out around the copter before snaking back the way the horde had originally came, the music also changed to conga line music. The five soldiers were also in that conga line, but now they weren't resisting, they appeared to be going with it kicking out their legs and shouting "HEY" along with all the zombies when they did.

They then started snaking back and forth until they were all standing in a prefect square formation with James leading it, then the music went wild. Whatever dance move James did the zombies behind him mimicked it perfectly as did the soldiers who had fallen under whatever spell James had cast on them. It was like some show you'd see on a Vegas stage.

James began to dance away from the dance troop, still wiggling his hips he produced something from his sombrero. It looked like a large black ball with a fuse attacked that was hissing loudly. "See ya!" he called.

David hit the deck as James bowled the bomb into the zombie horde and it exploded with a massive bang, throwing dead body parts here, there, everywhere. The music suddenly stopped and David looked from his hiding place at a scene of utter devastation. They were dead, the zombies the soldiers the lot of them had been blasted to bits.

* * *

With the local zombie horde and Umbrella stooges out of the way James waved for Marcus and Elaine to follow. Elaine and Marcus wanted to go around that horde of zombies but James in his current state just couldn't resist 'playing' with them like a kid would play with toy soldiers.

Every moment James wore the Mask he felt more and more drained, he just kept getting worse and worse, he was tired, warm and nauseous. It was like suffocating in a gas mask, he just had to remove the Mask now or he knew he was going to pass out.

James reached behind his head and pulled at the fold behind his head where the Mask was until it peeled off his face. James instantly regretted it because he felt even worse, his arms and legs were drained and his bones, which before felt like glass now felt like glass with long spikes sticking out of them.

James fell back and leaned against the copters fuselage as Marcus and Elaine approached. He'd wait until at least they were in the helicopter and far away then he'll go ransack the Umbrella lab with the Mask, surely they would have a cure for the virus.

"James, you look terrible." Marcus commented, James didn't have the strength to answer.

"Does anyone know how to pilot this thing?" Elaine asked, Pilot? Oh whoops James realised. He must've been one of the soldiers he's just killed.

"I took some flying lesions a couple of months ago" Marcus said, thank god, Marcus to the rescue.

"Did you ever get your licence?" Elaine asked.

"I know what all the major bits and knobs do, that's about it." James was too sick to feel his hopes drop.

"But you've flown a helicopter before." Elaine asked

"Actually I flew a biplane, but they can't be too different." Marcus said with a nervously jokey attitude.

James still clutched the Mask in his hands, he looked around for any danger that might rear its ugly head, zombies, Lickers, Frank, High Tower, anything. He breathed in deeply, the virus must be close to doing its work, he itched all over and though he felt hot his skin was clammy, cold and losing colour becoming whiter by the second. He feared soon he would be dead, he feared more that if he had to put the Mask on again and he couldn't find an antidote then the next time it came off he would not be the same person under the Mask as he was before.

Marcus got behind the controls of the copter and after a couple of minutes playing with the controls it fired into life. Its rotor blades began spinning faster and faster blowing air down to provide lift.

James head began to hurt not because the noise from the engine was loud, though it was, it just felt like his brain was being crushed, like his brain was trying to burst out, like someone had placed a gun barrel to his head. Oh, wait a moment, someone had put a gun to his head. His tired eyes opened and swivelled to look at the man holding the gun. It was David, David escaped that mad house? James thought he'd drowned in that flood of vomit.

David roughly wrenched the Mask from James' hands and threw him to the ground. In his sick state James did not resist.

The mad cop tapped the gun on the copters window and motioned with his gun for Marcus to get out. The professor obliged and as he got out of the door David threw him to the ground with James. Keeping them covered David went around the other side of the copter, took Elaine by the arm and threw her to the ground with the rest to them.

"You know, when I lost that bag I thought I'd lost all hope of getting out of this hell hole, but then you turn up and not just with the bag of tapes and documents, and get rid of the guards, but you also brought me this!" David held up the Mask in his free hand. "So this was the thing that turned you from spineless wimp, into an unstoppable green lunatic, James? How does it work?"

"This isn't the time for this!" Marcus said exasperated and annoyed "There is room for all of us in the copter and you can have the tapes, we don't want them! We can all get out of here." If Marcus was going to say anything else he was cut off as David shot him in the head without even blinking an eye. Marcus' blood splattered over both James and Elaine, James caught some of the red specks on his tongue, already he was getting an appetite for blood.

"You bastard!" Elaine spat at David.

"Yeah right" David spat "This isn't just a matter of survival, it's also a matter of revenge." He turned to James, his eyes already looked wide with madness. "You've caused me a lot of trouble with this thing!" David said holding the Mask up for him to see so it was facing the infected cop. "You always were a weak worm." He held the Mask so it eclipsed their view of his face, yet his eyes peered through its eye sockets, James knew what he was going to do and he was too weak to prevent it. "Let's see if it'll fit me better then you."

Slowly David began raising the cursed Mask up towards his face!

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Authors notes:** The song and dance routine is a mixture of the one seen in the Mask movie and the song and dance from the short Michael Jackson film Ghost. The song sung was a shorter version of the Michael Jackson song 'Is it Scary?' No copyright infringement was intended and the lyrics were only used in humour.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

David's face was about to touch the Mask, any moment he would turn into whatever the Mask wants turn him into. James was too exhausted to care about it anymore, he just wanted to sleep and rest, to die. But suddenly he could sense what felt like a slight tremor through the ground, like a heavy train being driven down a street at very high speed, and in essence it was. The next moment David had vanished but not because he had put the Mask on, he'd dropped the Mask when something twice his size rammed right into him. David flew across the yard and hit the open lid of a rubbish dumpster, the cop fell in and the lid slammed down on top of him. James didn't know if he was still alive or not, nor did he care because he was more concerned with what had stopped David putting the Mask on.

Standing before him and Elaine, with massive hands reaching down and picking up the wooden mask was Frank, Frank that giant, mutated monster James had left to drowned in a cavern deep beneath Raccoon City last night, he was still alive and he looked in a terrible state. His black coat was tattered and trailing the floor only held on by its waist, his pure white skin had bulged out in places, swollen from absorbing a lot of water. By the cuts and gashes in his skin and hands he had dug himself out of that cavern James had left him in. Then James noticed that this giants heart was outside his body, grafted onto his chest rather than inside his rib cage but whether it was supposed to be there or it was there because of something James did to him he didn't know.

Elaine was trying to drag James to his feet as the giant picked the Mask up, Frank finally had what he was after. James tried to reach out and grab it before Frank did but Elaine was pulling him back. Frank picked up the Mask and held it out in front of his expressionless face.

James saw the green glow from the Mask reflected in the Tyrants face, Frank began raising the Mask up. Oh great, they've traded one human psychopath for a giant, mutant psychopath. But as the Mask touched his face... nothing. Nothing happened, the Mask just sat on Franks pale face and didn't distort or try to take hold of Frank, at all. It was still night so the Mask should work, or maybe Frank hasn't got enough of a mind for the Mask to turn him into anything.

Frank quickly worked out he wasn't going to transform and instead lowered the Mask but didn't appear to have lost interest in it as he kept a tight hold on the wooden curse. Maybe he'd go away now and he and Elaine can at least attempt an escape in the helicopter. But that plan was soon put to a stop when Frank turned to face the helicopter, raised his left hand and slammed it down on the tail of the flying machine, the impact smashed it causing the tail to bend beyond repair.

"No!" Elaine cried. This hopeless situation was becoming quickly worse as all this noise was attracting nearby undead that began pouring through the gate at the far end where they had entered earlier. Frank then turned and began walking away from them towards the zombies, obviously they wouldn't attack him and even if they did he'd swat them aside at once like flies.

James' sick, un-focusing eyes spied something, the way Frank held the Mask, he held it with its face facing into his palm.

James pushed Elaine off him and ran towards Frank at full speed, his aching legs slowing him down considerably. A zombie managed to grab him when he caught Frank up and tried biting into his legs as he fell onto his stomach. Within moments he'd be covered with the undead, if only he could just...

Frank had stopped to swat some of the undead in his way out of his way. Pulling his legs up towards him with the clawing zombie at his ankles, James grabbed Franks hand that held the Mask and thrust his face up into it.

There was a massive flash rushing through James' mind and there was a massive blast of energy as the Mask turned James back into his indestructible, super charged form. James instantly felt a lot better, like he'd received a splash in the face with cold water, he was wide awake and ready to cause trouble!

Frank held James up by the face, while a zombie gnawed at his ankle. "If we get a few more guys we can make a zombie version of the paper clip chain!" James joked, the next second he felt Frank crush his skull.

Frank dropped him probably expecting James to be dead, how wrong he was. James landed on his feet and from his crushed head James stuck his thumb in his mouth and blew into it. His head popped back into shape in an instant and with a single kick James crushed the head of the zombie at his legs.

"Why do we always have to fight?" he smiled his massive teeth again "Why don't we just call a truce so we can all be friends?" He got his answer when Frank thumped him in the face. James didn't fly back, his feet stayed glued to the floor and he vibrated backwards and forwards like a ruler struck at the edge of a desk. "I guess I have my answer!"

Elaine screamed, at that James eyes disappeared into his eye sockets and popped out the back of his balled green head. Elaine was being advanced on by three zombies, she was in danger and it was time for the sick feeling James to leap into action. James eyes popped back into place to see Frank about to strike him again.

"Whoa, whoa!" James said pulling out a hand held stop sign from his pocket and held it out for Frank to see. "STOP...!" amazingly Frank did hesitate which was all James needed as he pulled out a massive, long, heavy hammer from his back pocket and swung it behind his back "...HAMMER TIME!" and slammed it down on Franks head. Like with Hightower a few nights before the heavy mallet snapped in two leaving Franks skull and expressionless face relatively undamaged. "Your skull's thicker than the layers of cockroaches in my apartment."

Before Frank could strike him again James raced off to help his girl. A zombie had Elaine by the arms and was trying to pull her towards his snapping jaws. James suddenly popped up between them a big grin on his face.

"I think this is my dance!" he said thumping the zombie in the face, spinning it around before grabbing its hands and shoulders and tangoed with it a few paces before throwing it over his shoulders at Frank, who swatted it away, breaking its back and killing it.

A second zombie had its jaws wide open ready to take a bite out of Elaine, but before it could take a chunk out of her James raced back to her, and stuck a tooth brush in the zombies mouth and began vigorously scrubbing its filthy teeth. "Look at those teeth, they're horrid. You'll never get a girl with teeth like that." He only stopped brushing when the zombie's teeth were sparkling white. "Now, isn't that better?" The zombie didn't have long to enjoy its new smile as James used a hammer and smashed its skull in and tossed the corpse at Frank who swatted it away as easily as he did the first, and continued to advance towards them.

The last zombie grabbed James and managed to bite into him but James easily pushed it off. "HEY, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF I BIT YOU?" taking its arm, James produced a bottle of salt and vinegar from his pockets and sprinkled and poured the two onto its arm before taking a bite of it.

The zombie thumped at James back four times before he let it go. "Oh, you can feel pain?" James didn't know if it could feel pain it just made what he was about to do so much more funny. He placed his hands on either side of its shoulders and said "Tell me if you can feel this?" and be brought his hands together crushing the zombies head like a sea shell. As the bloody, headless corpse fell to the floor James shrugged, smiled and said "I guess you can't."

James was going to throw the corpse at Frank when he suddenly felt himself being crushed into the wall behind him as Frank ran at him and rammed him into the wall. When was Frank able to run like that? He was usually pretty slow before.

Through the darkness James felt the front of his suit being grabbed and he was tossed back into the clearing, slamming into a pack of zombies and produced a noise like a bowling ball bowling a strike.

As James got back to his feet he saw Frank slowly advancing towards him. James wasn't very far away from him and was walking very slowly towards him. Franks hand thrust out and grabbed him by the scruff of the shirt and, still grinning like a loon, James reached down the front of his trousers and pulled out a big chopper, no really, it was a massive scythe that he used to slice Franks left arm off. James caught the severed limb that was bleeding in his arms and James, covered in Franks blood grinned again and joked "There you see, 'armless!" and James threw his head back in a hysteric laugh.

SMACK!

Frank smashed James in the face again and the super powered man flew back into a big container leaving a large dent in it. The large tank creaked loudly and started leaning to one side, it had a dusty sign on it which read, 'Warning, corrosive, hazardous!"

Suddenly James had an idea, one that was indicated by a large light bulb the size of balloon appearing and lighting up above his head. One that he took by the base and slammed onto Franks head to get his attention, James then irritated the giant further by using the still intact filament and still had a good electric current running through it. James jabbed it at each of Franks limbs like a cattle prod making them jump and twitch. James grinned as an amusing idea came into his head.

"EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!" James sang in a high pitched voice, the music to that song started with long beats and with each one James jabbed the long filament at Franks arms and legs making Frank, the Tyrant dance. James doubted if Frank understood how damn funny this looked, his cold face remained frozen as Frank kicked his legs out and his arms waving jerkily.

"Oh come on! Give me a smile!" and James thrust the filament into Franks cheekbones causing his muscles to contract and made his expressionless, expression now have a permanent, creepy grin on it that showed more of his gums then his teeth.

But then, fun over, James tossed the bulb away and transformed his clothes into one of a bull fighter and pulled out a red cape from nowhere. To add more to this bizarre scene, red roses started appearing as if they had been thrown from an audience, an audience that was cheering loudly for their bull fighting hero. James caught one of the roses and sniffed it before placing it in his lapel, then holding out his hand the cheering stopped dead. He unfolded his cape and waved it for Frank to run at him.

Frank bent his head down like a bull and launched himself forwards, the ground shook as the freight train that was Frank zoomed towards him. Then at the last possible moment James side stepped and drew the red cloth over Frank so he couldn't see where he was going.

Honestly, he didn't see that coming? What a dumb ass!

Frank rammed into the tank of hazardous material and went straight through its shell leaving a nice big hole that allowed a green liquid to spill out into the surrounding area. James retreated away from the flooding liquid but a bunch of dumb zombies tried to walk through it. Immediately their feet began smoking and hissing, it looked like dye was leaking out from their shoes but the reddish hue to it indicated what was actually happening. A zombie lost his balance and fell to the floor face first, as the zombie tried to pull itself back up and out it was obvious the liquid was dissolving them, its face was decayed, well more decayed than usual, it's face began falling apart, then the face fell off completely revealing the zombies bloody skull. The other two zombies, having their feet dissolved, fell forward into the puddle of acid like stuff and rapidly began dissolving. That was pretty powerful stuff.

Suddenly James decided to morph his clothes into a bright suit and cheesy hair style of a TV salesman. "Check it out, gets out all stubborn stains!" and he plucked a jacket from the dissolving dead, and half the limbs just fell out of it. "Though we don't recommend you put them on afterwards."

A loud howl punched the air as Frank came crashing back through into the open. His clothes had been totally dissolved off. "Wow, any wonder you're pissed" James grinned pointing at Franks groin "You haven't got a lot going for you!" The giant took two steps forward and suddenly his legs fell off and he fell onto his stomach. With his skin dissolving off Franks only hand reached out towards James, either for James to grab and pull him out, or more likely trying to reach him so the giant could rip his arms out. James decided to help by un-helpfully tossing a life preserver out at Frank as his dissolving form looked like he was sinking into the liquid. James guessed with its heart on the outside it would be dissolving first, and without a heart this thing couldn't survived.

James stood watching for ten minutes, cruelly watching Frank squirm in pain. Signing James looked at his watch, then back at Frank as he continued to howl in pain "Oh, change the channel already. You're dying, just get it over and done with!"

It was another two minutes before Frank laid still, his corpse still slowly dissolving turning him into a mass of soup.

"Is... is it dead?" Elaine asked standing next to masked James.

"I don't know" James admitted before taking a massive hammer and slamming it into Franks head, the balled head came loose and roll across the floor a bit, James stood coldly over his dead rival leaning on the end of his mallet like a cane "Yeah, I'd say he's pretty much dead."

The air was then punched by two noises, one was the sound of more undead breaking down the gates outside the industrial estate and the sea of moans and groans followed as they flooded in. They couldn't see them from where they were but it made the noise all the more scary. The other noise was that of static which could barely be heard over the loud groans of the dead. It was coming from the helicopters radio, even though the tail was missing the radio still worked.

"Alert, alert, all sections alert." A voice shouted "nuclear missiles have been launched by the US government, advance evacuation plan, get out of there now! Repeat, advance evacuation plans, get out now!"

The US governments nuclear missiles? James wondered but all that came out of his mouth were the words "Well... we're fucked!" he turned to Elaine and this man controlled by a mischievous mask said cockily "Want to make out?" At the look on Elaine's face James said "Oh, no loving tonight?" Elaine looked like she was going to hit him. "Mommy don't hit daddy, mommy don't hit daddy!" James repeated irritatingly.

"We're dead!" Elaine said at once, "we're dead! We've got no way out, zombies are coming at us, a nuclear bomb is about to be dropped on us and you're just interested in getting into my pants?"

After a quick moment of silence James nodded and said "Yeah!" and he wiggled his eye brows.

"You can forget it you pervert!" Elaine said sharply as zombies rounded the corner and began stumbling towards them all the moment getting closer and closer.

James felt himself become gradually sicker and sicker. The corner of his face started to twitch, then his face sank and warped. It was as if his rubber face was melting, it distorted and started falling to the floor, and it would have if James hadn't caught it quickly. "Oh, this isn't a good sign!" James said as he pushed his face back onto his skull.

"What's wrong now?" Elaine asked with genuine concern.

"I...I... I... don't feel too good mommy." Suddenly James had a thermometer in his mouth, the red liquid inside rose to the bulb, flooded it and a few seconds later it burst. James felt his face, it was rubber but in places the texture of wood was starting to form through, though it faded a second later. It was still pitch dark so the Mask should still work. There was only one conclusion, James was losing his mind and without it the Mask was failing. He laughed like a loon, "I think I'm about to die! HAHAHAHA! My powers are failing. AH HAHAHAHA!"

When the zombies were about a hundred feet away James smacked himself in the face with his mallet to bring him back to twisted reality long enough to do one final thing.

James morphed his clothes into those of a magician with a black coat and he moved over to Elaine, and while facing the rushing zombie horde James grinned. "And for my final trick of my life ladies and ghouls..." James pulled a large hoop with a curtain attached to it from the inside of his black coat. "I shall make my darling assistant Elaine vanish from Raccoon City all together and reappear safely somewhere else in the world."

Before Elaine could protest James draped the curtain over her. James then produced a magic wand from his left sleeve and tapped the curtain three times. Then he dropped it, but what he wanted wasn't what he got. Elaine was still here, but her clothes weren't! She was totally naked from head to toe, from curve to slender curve. She shrieked loudly and covered her privates from the view of James who got his mind off her boobs and back onto rescuing her. He rose the curtain again to hide her from site "A slight technical hitch lady's and ghouls" and he tapped it three times and dropped the curtain again, this time when the curtain dropped Elaine had vanished altogether, there was no trace of her what so ever. "Hey, it worked!" James exclaimed surprised "How come I didn't think of this earlier?"

It wasn't a moment too soon because the zombies were almost on him. James prepared to take them down the moment they laid a finger on him. But the moment Elaine vanished the zombies slowed to a standing halt. They didn't approach or try to grab him at all, they just stood still like they had forgotten why they were charging towards him.

"Hello! I'm right here!" James said waving at the zombies. The horde turned to look at him but didn't seem interested. In fact they looked at him like they would look at anything they thought was inedible. They began milling around looking for something to eat, that's when a heavy sense of dizziness fell over James. He was losing all balance in his legs and so he fell back against a nearby support column, he began to shake.

The masked James was aware of wetness in his eyes, he was crying rivers because he understood what was going on. The infection had decayed his brain to the extent where it was eating at whatever the Mask used to create this avatar for him, without that the Mask would not function, it was weakening and despite it still being night he could feel it wanting to detach. Maybe it was the same thing Frank lacked which is why it wouldn't work on him, but either way now James was losing it and from the way the zombies didn't take any notice of him James could only draw one conclusion, the zombies saw him as another one of them, another of the soldiers to join the ranks of the undead. James was dying and the Mask couldn't help him now.

"I don't want to die!" James' mask personal wailed loudly. Man, whatever part of him the Mask used it was such a baby! James had no choice, he felt his body become colder and colder, the aching in his body was so numb it was none existent. The power was leaving him! He reached up and tried to push the Mask back onto his face, but that wasn't working, he could feel the rubber mask slowly gaining the texture of wood, it was coming off!

James lost his strength and decided there was nothing he could do, this was it, it was his end.

He reached behind his head for the fold in the Mask and began pulling it off himself. He wanted to spend his last few moments as himself, not as this loony avatar. It felt like a giant scab was forming over his face as the Mask hardened back into wood and instantly dropped off, it fell free of his grip clattering to the floor at his feet. Now leaning against this support column James felt whatever was left of his mind sinking into oblivion.

James' last proper thought was remembering his family, his childhood, his mother and father, all dead now, of wanting to become a cop and help people, to stop this flood of crime and evil on the streets. As a single cop he could never clean up all the streets, he could never do as much good as he wanted but he took comfort in the thought that his last act with the Mask was to send someone far, far away from this nightmarish city, a pretty girl who like him wanted nothing more than to escape this hell hole, and he'd released her, but at the cost of his own life.

Suddenly his mind went black, he couldn't remember what he was doing. Where was he? Who was he? Why does his stomach hurt? He felt hungry, what was hungry? His heart started beating faster and faster. What was a heart? It was meat, it was food.

James felt his rib cage stop going up and down in a movement he once knew as breathing and then he felt his fast beating heart come to an abrupt and final stop, it hung still, a useless lump of meat in his ribcage. He blacked out, but just for a second, then his senses came flooding back, stronger than ever before. His eyes opened and looked at the wooden mask on the floor and couldn't recall what it was or what it was for nor what it could do nor what it did to him. He tasted his own mouth and his sense of smell could detect something. Something warm, and fresh, something alive... but James now only had one word for it. Food.

James was hungry and that's the only thought he had in his head and a second later he didn't even have to think that thought, it was nature, it was his only purpose. He was hungry and he needed food and he could sense food nearby, food, food! He needed to eat, and feed, feed and eat, and eat, and eat, and eat, and eat, and eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, EAT, EAT, EAT, EAT, EAT, EAT, EAT, EATEATEATEATEATEATEATEAT!

* * *

Something foul assaulted his nostrils as David came back to consciousness. Rotting vegetables and rank diapers were what he woke up to. He sat up and pushed open the dumpster lid just enough for him to peer outside and see there was no one around, no James, no Elaine. Just the remains of a massive creature and several zombies that appeared to have dissolved in some greenish sludge that stained the concrete floor.

The helicopter, his ticket out of here, it was damaged beyond repair, he had no way out now! But David was a fighter, he would fight to survive! The copper climbed out and put weight on his feet, he yelped loudly in pain, his ribs felt like they were cracked but he tried to push past the pain barrier and walked as well as he could and recovered his gun which he found near where Marcus lay with a hole through his head. He then walked past the corpse like it was a sack of meat, which is all it was now.

Suddenly David spotted something across the floor, an ominous green glow coming from a small lump of curved, green wood. That strange Mask thing James had been wearing, that was it, his ticket out of this dump! He staggered over towards it and with yelps of pain he bent down and picked it up, he didn't care if the undead heard him, soon he would have the power brush them aside like fleas, soon he would be able to get out of this place and with this Mask, with this thing he could do anything, become anything, he could get anything and everything he ever wanted and more and no one could stop him!

As David rose the Mask up he heard something. There was a light shuffling from somewhere in the darkness, among all the support columns and pipes that grew out all around the dark industrial estate.

"Daaviiiid?" said a weak, horse voice that sounded like it hadn't had a drink in months, it then breathed deeply.

"Who's there?" David shouted as a dark form began emerging, slowly shuffling towards him.

"D...D... Dav..." it struggled to say, its body twitched. It was James, he knew that scrawny runt anywhere. He must've come back for the Mask, well David wasn't going to let this worm rob him of his escape. David levelled his gun at the fucking asshole.

"James?" David called as the shuffling figure stopped, lost his balance and fell against a support beam, he must be in pain if he couldn't stand properly. David advanced so he could clearly see James, his skin was very pale and his eyes were scrunched up as if he was in a world of pain. David pressed his pistol up to James' temple and decided to put him out of his misery, no scratch that, out of his own misery "James, you fucking bastard, you are fucking dead!"

Then James opened his eyes, they were staring at him, his irises were milky white, the colour of the dead. "Oh god!" David said realising too late and to his horror "You are dead!"

James then reacted light lightning, he knocked David's gun out of the way and pounced, within seconds the ghoulish James had David by the arm and was already sinking his teeth through his uniform and into his flesh.

David screamed and yelled in a mixture of anger and horror as he watched the undead James pull a sizable, bloody chunk out of his arm. Acting on anger David swung the hand that held the Mask and smacked James to the floor as the ghoul calmly chewed on what he had taken out of him, David was sickened how zombie James quietly ate the once live flesh as calmly as you would eat a TV dinner.

"YOU BIT ME! YOU FUCKING BIT ME! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" David kicked James in the stomach and did this repeatedly, he doubted the ghoul could feel it but it made him feel better. James had just killed him so now David was going to put a hole through the zombie James' head! The copper with the death sentence levelled his gun at the head of James, and cocked the hammer back.

David felt a hand on his shoulder and turned just in time to look into the staring eyes of a zombie woman the moment before he was dragged to the ground by a third zombie he hadn't seen. It was then David was aware a horde had snuck up behind him and were starting to gather around him to have their turn on David's body. As they started biting and chewing David dropped the Mask.

With as much strength as he could David knocked off the two zombies on him and reached out for the Mask which was within arms' reach. He grabbed it and pulled it towards him as zombie James grabbed his legs and began climbing up his waist, clawing at him.

Without hesitation David slapped the Mask on his face. He closed his eyes tightly as his skin immediately felt numb as the wooden mask began to distort and wrap around his head, all the while zombies were crawling over him. He'll show them! Once this thing gives him the powers James had he'll slaughter all of them, he'll slaughter everybody! He then felt very warm as the Mask began peeling off... peeling off? Why was it doing that?

He opened his eyes and saw the glare of the rising sun between the metal pipes of the industrial site. The wooden Mask was coming off. _No! It can't stop now!_ It was detaching and it fell off his face, why didn't it work? Why wasn't this stupid Mask transforming him, giving him power?

David felt cold as he felt half a dozen teeth bite into him and ripped piece after piece out of him. James was still on top of him and was clawing at his face, the once living dipshit snarled and hissed as he tried to bite David's nose off.

As zombies swamped him and began ripping him apart he became vaguely aware of a noise, a loud, thundering noise like a plane makes when it goes overhead. Sure enough something was flying overhead, a bright bulb of light that streaked across the sky towards the centre of town leaving a long, thin smoky trail as it did. The missile! It had arrived!

David struggled refusing to admit it was too late, he wrenched his head to his right and he could see the Mask. Somehow it had propped itself up against a support column so he could see its face. See that upturned smile of its like it was enjoying a joke, like it thought all this was in some way funny, like it was laughing, laughing at him! Finally snapping David shouted at the inert, lump of wood, "FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU!" and then James took a chunk out of his right cheek with his teeth.

A blinding white light flashed into existence and was so bright it was like it was coming everywhere at once. Then came an ear splitting bang that was drawn out into a loud rumble. David felt his ears burst and the ground shook, a big blast pushed through the industrial sit, ripping everything away and blasting it apart. The temperature skyrocketed and the standing zombies suddenly burst into flames, they struggled and stumbled in pain, David felt it and his arms, hands and legs catch fire in this intense heat.

A blast like a great wind raced through the industrial plant, blasting all the pipe work apart and all standing, burning zombies were blown into bits. James was still on top of him, like he was determined to make sure David couldn't escape the blast. David wrenched himself when the pain of the burning finally registered in his brain. He looked back at the Mask, it was burning too, but in the next instant it vanished as it caught the wind and was blown off into the distance in the blink of an eye.

James had burst into flames and despite this the undead worm still clawed trying to bite him. That snarling, angry looking, dead face of James with a rising mushroom cloud just behind him was the last image David saw before the next blast blasted both coppers into oblivion, both blasted into atoms, and all David knew was blackness.

* * *

**Epilogue**

**October 1st Early morning**

Destrution, utter distruction is all I can describe the remains of Raccoon City. The blast was so powerful nothing could've escaped it. The area were a once tall and proud, arrogant city once stood now sits a large, smoking, radioactive crater with remnants of collapsed buildings protruding out of them.

This is Elaine writing the final diary entry on behalf of James Denning, who died heroically in Raccoon City saving me from the fate that was going to befall him. He was infected and anytime he was going to turn.

Umbrella planned to drop a nuclear bomb on the city to cover their tracks and blame it on the cities aging nuclear facility. Jacob and his gang were ripped apart by the undead and Marcus was shot dead by David, James old partner. 'Frank', the name James had given the Tyrant monster that kept following him around, was killed with toxic waste from the industrial plant but not before he damaged the helicopter stranding us here. But James, while in the Mask used its powers to save me. I can only assume that James died in the blast as did that accursed Mask.

Sorry, I'm not good at this, I can't give the level of detail James did in his previous entries, maybe I should skip ahead and explain what happened to me next.

I appeared in the forest far from Raccoon City and I watched the missiles, three of them, flew directly at the city, and within seconds it was gone in a rising mushroom cloud. All the monsters, zombies, undead, mutants and humans alike all went together. All that was left were three smoking craters, all that was left of the city.

I spent less than half an hour wandering the forest until I came across a clearing that had people in it! I approached cautiously, it was the army. They arrested me, pushed me through a decontamination tent where I was stripped and sent into a shower to remove any radioactive residue on me.

I was then pushed out the other side clad in only a bath robe. These people were not Umbrella, they were the US military, and they were here looking for survivors and evidence of Umbrella's illegal experiments. It turns out Umbrella had been found out and the US government had advanced Umbrellas 'sterilisation' program themselves to stop the T-virus spreading beyond the city limits.

I was given some other clothes that fitted me and I was interrogated for hours as they tried to squeeze out as much information from me as possible. I was presented with James' diary, which they had found in my pocket, James must've slipped it into my pocket before he teleported me. They couldn't read it but did ask why I had it. I panicked, I didn't want anyone else finding out about the Mask and its power so I panicked and said it belonged to my boyfriend and that it was sentimental to me, but they did ask me to read it because the handwriting was so poor. I struggled to read it myself and I was careful to leave out any reference to the Mask.

I was then set free to roam around the camp. There were other survivors here as well who had managed to get out anyway they could, one came out through the sewers, one swam across the river, a bunch climbed into a helicopter and flew out. There was talk of a mysterious helicopter carrying about three people that flew off into the distance and hadn't been seen since.

They say we'll be allowed to leave soon. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. Raccoon City was my home, I never thought beyond getting out of the city. I think I might go to Las Vegas, I've got family there, maybe they can help me get back to my feet.

I don't know why I'm writing this. Maybe it's because I want to give James an end. I never saw him after he teleported me away, I know he's dead, the blast occurred at dawn which is when the Mask stops working, either way he's dead and I guess I just want to give James some closure by finishing his account of what happened in Raccoon City.

I won't let anyone see this diary, ever. Knowledge of the Masks' existence is just as dangerous as possessing the thing itself, though I doubt it would've survived a nuclear bomb blast it might tempt people to go searching for it. I don't know, though I'm sure it was destroyed I've got this feeling it wasn't. What am I thinking, of course it was destroyed, half the ground was atomised in that blast, a lump of wood could not possibly survive. I'm also hoping if this does fall into someone else's hands that they realise the dangers of the Mask, that it is like the power of nature and cannot be controlled, anyone who thinks otherwise is as stupid as Umbrella was for creating the T-Virus.

At least with this I also get some closure in my own story, to both stories. The Raccoon City nightmare is finally over as is the nightmare my uncle Justin Tucker unleashed when he found that cursed Mask. Hopefully all the creatures, monsters, mutations and the Mask itself died with Raccoon City.

-From the Diary of James Denning, written by a survivor called Elaine.

* * *

**October 1****st**** 2003**

A heavy sign escaped the mouth of Dr. Robert Davison as he peered down his microscope at an organic sample, "negative". He slid the slide out from under the microscope and put it to one side and picked up the next organic sample. After a quick inspection of that one he took the slide out, signed again and peered out the tinted windows at the view that greeted him every single day.

There was a grey wasteland of nothing but dust and dirt. On a good day you could make out the buried wrecks of what were at one time ten story buildings. That dirt bowl in the earth was all that was left of what was once called Raccoon City and Dr. Davison worked literally in it.

He was one of about 50 scientists who worked in this research facility and all he did all day was prepare organic samples from collected plant life and examine them for possible genetic mutations. The crater and 20 miles around it was walled off as a biohazard area and entry to the site is strictly prohibited.

The facility was once owned by the Umbrella corporation and they occupied it until a few months ago when the corporation fell and the US military took over. The entire research team has spent months cataloguing and filing away research looking for evidence of Umbrella's supposed illegal genetic experiments.

Dr. Davison put another slide into his microscope and looked through the eyepiece. Ah, there it was. The sample was that of a leaf of a common plant in this area, he had a control, a clean leaf of said plant –he couldn't remember what the name of it was, he was a geneticist, not a botanist- the sample however clearly had small genetic mutations in it, indications of the mutagen known as 'T'. They had found small amounts of 'T' in the 20 mile quarantine around the city, it's mostly just infecting plants and small animals but they could be dealt with by the military who were now armed with a vaccine for this artificial virus left by Umbrella when they collapsed.

The door to his lab was pulled open sharply by a soldier who brought with him a sealed capsule, he put it down on a table and left without saying a word. Breaking away from this fascinating sample Dr. Davison walked over to see what this new capsule contained. They usually contained any biological samples that could be of interest, plant samples or dead animals infected by 'T' or even objects that could be of interest.

Attached to the box was a plastic sleeve with papers in it describing what the sample was. The papers read 'artefact of interest containing small amounts of organic matter, possible source of 'T' unearthed from sector G, discovered 10/01/2003. Sector G was on the edge of the city where everything was blown out when the nuclear bomb went off.

Placing the capsule in an isolation chamber Dr. Davison put his hands through the attached gloves so he could work on whatever it was while staying isolated from it. Opening the seals he picked up a small object wrapped in a plastic sample bag from inside the capsule. Opening it he took out something solid, an old looking, green painted, wooden Mask. It was covered in dust from being buried in the dirt for 6 years and some small organic matter had clearly began to grow in the crevices of the wood. He scraped the organic matter off it into a sample bowl for later examination, the artefact itself would later be incinerated in a furnace to destroy it and any remaining 'T' that may cover it.

After a quick examination of the organic matter Dr. Davison did find traces of 'T' in it, that mask was probably in contact with a heavy contaminated source of 'T' during its time in the city when it still stood, the mould had become infected like the humans and animals and did not look like usual wood rot.

Davison signed again and looked at his watch 8:00pm, the end of his shift and he was glad of it. He had few pleasures in life but smoking was one of them and he desperately needed one. He knew he'll return to his quarters and find mail from his wife about the divorce, she had grown tired with him constantly being pulled this way and that at the beck and call of the US government that she was divorcing him, which meant she was going to get half of his stuff and money, he'd tried to talk her out of it but she was adamant she wanted a divorce. Fuck sake, all she'd done was leach off him, take his money and spend, spend, spend, and when he came home all she did was complain, complain, complain after he worked so hard for that money. She lived in Vegas and he knew where all that money went, she gambled it all away so in his opinion this divorce was a good thing.

Putting it out of his mind he slipped his hands back into the isolation box, took the wooden mask and prepared to put it into a bag for destruction. He was distracted though by a green glow that flowed across its inside, he supposed the light must've caught it but strangely it improved his down mood a great deal, he didn't feel angry, nor did he feel happy, he just felt calm and serene. He didn't know why but he had the strange compulsion to put the mask on his face.

Slowly he raised it up, but with a sheet of glass between him and it meant the thing couldn't touch his face. It shined again brightly and the good Dr. Robert Davison felt mesmerised by it, there was nothing in his mind now, just the compulsion to put on that mask.

He slowly walked over to the hatch of the isolation chamber and opened it up, it hissed as the pressure differential equalised, suddenly sirens started blazing loud all around indicating a biohazard situation but Dr. Davison didn't care.

He picked up the Mask and held it up still hypnotised by this artefact, it glowed bright again for a third time as the entire lab was automatically sealed in a lock down, metallic thumps sounded at all the doors and windows indicating they had been sealed, nothing could get in or out.

Slowly, Dr. Robert Davison rose the Mask up towards his face and deep in his mind he could hear a voice quietly laughing hysterically...

* * *

**THE END**

* * *

...of

Temporary Insanity

But...

The Mask

will return...

* * *

Resident Evil/The Mask

Temporary Insanity was written by TimeLordParadox (A.K.A. Ross Pickering)

Based off Newline cinemas and Darkhorse comics The Mask

And Capcoms Resident Evil game series.

No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

**Special thanks to...**

GlaringEyes

Omnitrix1

Animefighter123

Magical fan18

DragonGolem

OnyxSteelGray1213

For all the great reviews and support and patience while I slowly pushed through and eventually complete this story.

I hope you all enjoyed this and any other stories I come to write.

Cheers

-TimeLordParadox.


End file.
